Sword Art Online - The Battle for Middle-Earth
by HappyTheCamper
Summary: Kirito has been invited into a brand new gaming world for the Seed to test its demo level, but after a week of play no one has either seen or heard from the master swordsman. Now Asuna and the others have to find a way into the game and see where he is, and if he's safe. As they do, each of them discovers a new role for themselves that decides the fate of their missing best friend.
1. 1: The Labors of Aincrad

**Author's Note: Hello! I'm HappyCamper999, and I'm back with an all new story! I have been away from the website for a while, but I'm finally back with one of my favorite projects to date. Anyway I hope you enjoy this new crossover!**

 ** _It is important to note that I do not own Sword Art Online. It, its story, characters, settings and all other aspects are the property of A-1 Studies, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara. I also do not own The Lord of the Rings. It and all its components are the property of New Line Cinema and the J. R. R. Tolkien Estate. The only aspects of this story I can claim are minor pieces to the plot and several original characters._**

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Sword Art Online: _The Battle for Middle-Earth_

Book I - An Unexpected Journey

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Chapter One

The Labors of Aincrad

 _"It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish."_

― Samwise Gamgee, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

"Alright guys, this is it. The Floor 30 boss is right on the other side of this door."

Kazuto Kiriguya, or "Kirito" as he was known inside these video games was leading his usual assault team inside a new level of the _Castle Aincrad_ , a mythical palace floating in the skies of the virtual reality realm, _ALfheim Online_.

For our purposes as readers the date is roughly April in the year 2026. The assault team of ALfheim had been on a rigorous campaign to clear all the castle's 100 levels over the recent year of release, and after finding a few major distractions over the past few months they are finally catching back up to their original goals of clearing every floor and defeating each boss that lie within the chambers.

Now, Kirito prepares to lead his team of roughly 40 or so players into the new arena as they each sit outside the dungeon doors and await for the plans to finish unfolding.

"This won't be an easy one to beat, but I have a good feeling about it." Dressed in a cloak of black, Kirito the in-game Spriggan had all the confidence in the world as he looked to his crew of merry fighters.

"Agreed, but we'll need to have a good plan of attack if we want to make it out with a win." With him was the skilled supporter and blue-haired Undine warrior, Asuna Yuuki, or "Asuna" for short.

Asuna stood at the ready as she pulled up a mock-map of the dungeon that sat beyond the door. "Once we go in the ranged attackers will have to be using their best efforts to spread out along the outside of the arena floor. The melee-ers will want to rush in at first, but be on lookout for the boss's first breath attack."

Most of the players nodded and prepped for battle, but a few of the more "comfortable" players decided to try and lighten the mood.

"Wow, I know we're back at the standard floor boss fights, but seriously this round table jargon is really bringing back old memories of SAO." Klein, the fiery and comical Salamander swordsman leaned up against the wall beside the door, and slowly spun around his _Karakurenai_ katana long-sword as he smiled in a joking manor. "How's about we stick to the usual slash and burn and just send this one to the floor like the rest of 'em?"

Asuna went to make a comment but was once again interrupted by another party member. This one was a female and she was sitting at Asuna's feet with her legs crossed and her head leaning on her fist.

"No kidding. Asuna I'm not even sure how you can do this command stuff anyway. It has to get boring after a while..." Lisbeth, the pink haired Leprechaun blacksmith sighed as she made her statement. She wore a red tunic with plates of armor dotted about her upper body, and wielded a one handed mace on her back.

Kirito raised an eyebrow and leaned out to look down at Lisbeth. "Hold on why do you say that about her and not me?"

Lisbeth didn't give him eye contact and let out a tiny smirk. "Well that's easy. Asuna's not a total weirdo like you, Kirito."

People in the front of the group started to chuckle, and Kirito crossed his arms and shook his head due to the lack of seriousness he felt from the group, but before he could defend himself another female player spoke up from the front lines of the huddle.

"Guys, are we sure we have enough people?" Said the little Cat Sí, Silica. "I mean we have no info on this boss other than a few breath attacks. What if he's really big, and our group is too tiny to beat him?"

Silica was cloaked in a coat of blue and a head of golden blonde hair tied in two pigtails. She also had two tiny cat ears that matched her hair, and a thin cat's tail poking out of her lower back as she started gripping her tiny dagger tighter and tighter. She stood ready with her tiny pet dragon Pina sitting atop her head, but she also looked a little nervous for the mysterious fight ahead.

"Ah I think we'll be okay!" Another quest member spoke next, and this one happened to be Kirito's cousin and a long-time Sylph mage Leafa. She wore her usual green and white Sylph cloak and pants and also held the handle to her thin elven longsword tied to her belt.

Leafa waved a hand and smiled with confidence. "I mean, Kirito and Asuna are both confident, so why should we be worried?" She then lost her smile and turned to her two commanders. "You guys _are_ confident, right…?"

Asuna laughed and nodded, but Kirito face-palmed and tried wrapping up the conversation with haste. He then remained silent and turned to face the daunting path that lied ahead.

It appeared as a great stone door of mostly grey, but tiny accents of emerald green trimmed the face of the rock, and a faint glow of lime fog cracked from underneath the door as the attack party waited with anxiety to make their next move.

Finally Kirito reached back and put a hand around his long sword. "Like Asuna said, let's keep the ranged attackers on the perimeter, and the rest of us can go in and out of the boss's reach to wither down its health."

Asuna nodded and drew her tiny support wand. She then looked at a nearby Cat Sí archer with aqua green hair. "Sinon you'll be good right? To be honest I'm not even sure why I'm asking, but it doesn't hurt to…"

Sinon, the girl dressed in a soft green tunic with a white breastplate spoke with a nod. "Yea I'll be fine. I'm actually pretty excited to get a few shots off on this guy." She smiled with pride and drew her _Light Bow Shekinah_ , forged in grey steel and silver by the hand of Lisbeth. Then she and the remainder of the party stood at the ready and let Kirito open the door.

Finally, as the door cracked and fog rolled in as a thin sheet a crossed the lobby floor, Lisbeth sighed and stood as she drew her mace. "Okay, but no breaking any of my weapons in here, or so help me I'll…"

Her breath and quote were silenced as the entire crew heard a vicious roar coming from inside the door, and right then without making a second thought Kirito charged in with a yell at the top of his lungs.

"LET'S DO THIS!"

"YEA!" The rallied party of fighters yelled in response, and swiftly followed their group of leaders into the dark green chamber, lit up by tiny dots of green lantern light on the periphery of the ringed arena. Yet as they made it inside, the doors shut and the full room lights flashed on, revealing the beast within.

It wasn't pretty by any means of measurement, and in fact looked rather deformed. It appeared to be a large, winged dragon with scales black as night. Its eyes glowed with a bright shade of green, and cracks of sparkling green shined from beneath its armored body. It also had large open pores of bright green liquid pouring out of its spine, which truly made it a sight for sore eyes to behold.

However, one unique feature was latched around its neck, which depicted a thick collar of steel that was adorned with a single chain, and although it appeared to be longer in the past it was clear by the burnt up chain holder pinned to the ground that the dragon had burnt itself free. Finally, its head was crowned with two daunting grey horns that mangled around over its skull, which complimented the rows of yellow and white teeth within its mouth.

Its name read _Corrodier-the Caustic Drake_ , and as it reared its head, the beast let out a screeching roar and prepped for defense of its palace.

Klein tried to laugh as he noticed the burnt chain around its neck, but kept his voice to a yell as the crew ran in. "GREAT! YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS GUY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PINNED DOWN BY THAT CHAIN!?"

Everyone ignored him as the dragon breathed a heavy cloud of green fire and smoke, which barely missed all the runners.

"KEEP GOING!" Kirito realized the inner arena had a larger radius than he expected, and as a result he and the other melee-ers had to run a few extra lengths to get their first hits off on the dragon.

Archers and mages encircled the outer rim of the floor and let off several beginner shots as the dragon had no time to choose its target carefully. As a result, it lowered its head and sent off a breath right for the charging swordsmen once again.

"SPLIT UP!" One player with a Salamander skin and a fierce battle spear cried out with tenacity. "IT CAN'T HIT US ALL IF WE'RE MOVING IN SEPARATE ASSAULT GROUPS!"

"WHAT ARE YOU NUTS!?" Said another player. This kid was from the race of Imps, and held a very spooky looking black dagger as it trembled in his hands.

"LOOK OUT!" Klein ran over and shoved Kirito out of the way from a point-blank green breath attack, and barely made it out of the way himself as several men behind them burnt up in a cloud of green smoke.

However, Kirito did manage to grab the hand of one other extra player, and it just so happened to be the cowering dagger-wielding Imp.

The others weren't so lucky.

"AGH!" They cried out, and as the smoke cleared their virtual bodies were turned into bubbling piles of corrosive aftermath, and quickly disappeared with the usual particle effects of a dead ALO player.

"Well, I hope they still have their stuff when they re-spawn..." Kirito cracked a joke, and nodded to the fact that the dragon clearly burned them down with an acid attack, hoping their luggage made it out as well.

"Really? A joke Kirito!?" Lisbeth yelled out and dodged a cloud of green fire on her end. "This guy is way too legit! How can we get any closer?!"

"I'll say!" Said the random Imp behind Kirito. "H-Hey, thanks for the help too…man how are we gonna beat this guy!? He's too legit for even 40 players!"

"No kidding…" Kirito turned and noticed the arrows from the back party weren't even making it to the dragon, because as they flew to the centering a cloud of green fog burnt them up in the atmosphere and turned them into nothing.

"Figures." Sinon cocked her head and drew back on her long bow with extra force, allowing for a vail of orange to cover her arrow, and as she released her new shot the projectile turned into five and went right for the dragon.

Unlike the regular attacks, Sinon's light arrows made it past the cloud of acid, and even hit the dragon on the neck. The beast let out a roar and flapped its wings to push back the foot soldiers at its front, and tried to back up and away from the archers.

"HERE! I'll keep it distracted again while you all push up!" Leafa sheathed her sword and raised her hands, surrounding herself in a ring of enchanted scripture as she began to recite an incantation.

Kirito and the others would have waited, but Asuna stood right beside Leafa and was also reciting an enchantment of her own, only instead of using attack magic like her Sylph friend, the Undine warrior began to provide buffs for her attacking friends.

"NOW!" Both Leafa and Asuna yelled, and right then Asuna powered on her shields for the attackers, and as she did Leafa released a wave of tiny golden daggers, which pierced through the cloud of smoke and blinded the dragon's bright green eyes.

Meanwhile, Silica the tiny Cat Sí began running for the dragon's hind legs way before the others. It only had two as the upper arms appeared to be part of its wings, so all's she had to do was give it a few slices and send it to the ground injured and let her friends lead the final attack.

As her heart beat faster and faster, Silica rolled away and missed a new pool of acid spawned from the dragon, and then flipped forward and got right beneath the drake, delivering two precise dagger slashes to each inner ankle. However as the cuts began to spew liquid acid, Pina removed itself from its perch on Silica's shoulders and flew her away to safety.

The dragon went to stomp around in pain, but Lisbeth barreled in and smacked it right on the wing with her mace of thunder to catch it off guard. Then Klein charged in with a crew of other swordsmen and powered on a sword-skill to level out a few slashes on its well-armored chest, which knocked a few larger scales off his body.

Kirito ran in to deliver a lasting final hit, but as he did he heard very quick footsteps running from behind him.

"I'LL HELP YOU ON THE FINAL HIT!" Asuna yelled as she now wielded a swift light blue rapier-styled sword.

Kirito kept running, but looked her way with a smile and nod. "I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!"

Asuna smiled back and as they looked forward, both warriors ran in and pointed their glowing swords right at the dragon's now exposed chest.

As Asuna sent in a flurry of rapid attacks, Kirito mimicked Klein's powerful slash from before, only this time the dragon didn't have an extra row of scales to defend its stomach.

Then, as they removed their blades, Kirito powered on his unique sword-skill and revealed a brightly glowing golden blade in his off hand.

As he powered on his dual-wielding perk the mighty faux relic of the _Holy Sword Excalibur_ flew down from Kirito's slash and ended the battle, delivering the final blow to the dragon's chest and leaving it to turn into a cloud of green smoke, followed by a poof of in-game particles.

The green cloud exploded as a last second bomb of acid which scattered a crossed the entire in-field, but luckily Asuna had time to throw up a shield for her and Kirito. Some extra players went down, but for the most part all the other attackers were well out of the cloud's range.

Kirito stopped moving as he and Asuna finished their breaths, but as everyone else began cheering, Asuna narrowed her eyes and looked his way.

"I didn't think you'd need two swords to beat it?" She said with a demand of clarity in her voice.

Kirito gathered his breath and composure as he put away both swords and shrugged. "I didn't, but eh I wanted to have some fun."

Asuna shook her head and sighed as she stood tall. "Right, but you told everyone you would never need to use _Caliber_." She looked his way as all the bosses drops fell around them and into the hands of their friends.

Kirito laughed and shrugged again. "Right, and I don't plan on using it regularly, but this fight was looking pretty bad. I mean that guy took out half our forces with two clouds of acid."

"Yea…" Asuna hated playing chaperon with Kirito, but she wasn't comfortable with him choosing that sword of all his weapons to dual wield. "I-I'm just saying, you do have other swords that make for good dual-wielding. Maybe next time we can bring extra players in so you don't feel the need to…"

Kirito stopped her there and grabbed her by the hand. He brought her in for a quick kiss on the lips, and after they finished he looked her in the eyes.

"Hey, I didn't know it would bother you that much, but I understand. I won't use it again…" He then got a goofy look in his eye. "Unless you're just jealous that I got to use it without you?"

"Yea yea, not quite…" Asuna had a smile, but rolled her eyes and pushed herself out of his arms. However, she didn't let go of his hands. "Besides, you only had the final hit because _I_ escorted you all the way there."

That made Kirito smile, and possessed him to lean in for another kiss, only to be stopped by his alarmed party members.

"Geeze…let's go you guys we need to gather this stuff and get outta here!" Lisbeth had a laugh in her voice as she waved at Kirito and Asuna from the door of the exit.

"Agh!" Kirito tried to compose himself, and Asuna let out a giggle as she took is hand and ran for the escape stairs at the back side of the dungeon.

However, as Kirito looked around at all the un-wanted drop items, one very unusual black dagger caught his eye.

"Hold on, that's not a drop. It looks like a player item…" He stopped Asuna as he found the dagger was tagged with an extra note overhead.

Now looking with curiosity, both Kirito and Asuna stopped and crouched down to look at the dagger, and Kirito picked it up.

"Huh, it looks like the same dagger that one kid had who was with me in the front group…the name says it's owned by a player named _Klint_?" Kirito scratched his chin. "Normally items like this don't hold an ownership tag unless they were freshly dropped."

Asuna nodded and then smiled as she stood up, realizing what it was. "Well, it must be an item from one of the players that died. Let's go back to the World Tree and see if he's there. Whoever it is I bet he'll be looking for it eventually."

After agreeing, Kirito put the dagger away and followed Asuna through the stairwell and into the back room of the dungeon, securing their names on the Monument of Swordsmen as the party leaders and exiting back to the open world of ALfheim.

* * *

After finishing up with the raid, some of the members gathered together for a celebratory drink at one of the in-game restaurants, but it appeared that the party leaders were not high in their usual spirits.

"Ugh, why do we have to have that stupid exam tomorrow!?" Lisbeth moaned as they stood in one of the main city courtyards.

Silica nodded. "I have one too…school is really starting to get hard." She also attended the same school that Kirito, Asuna, and Lisbeth attended for survivors of the original SAO game.

Even girls like Leafa and Sinon who went to a regular school were also in need of fresh study time, and Leafa turned to her cousin Kirito. "Well, mom's out for the night so I guess we'll have to find our own dinner also."

"Yea…" Kirito sounded annoyed and shook his head. "It'd be nice to have a cook for the night…" He hinted at Asuna coming over for a visit, but the blue haired fairy shook her head.

"No way, I need to do my own work tonight, and I know if we hung out it'd only give us an excuse to dive back in to ALO."

Kirito sighed. "Fine, but I'm not jumping off yet. I gotta find this Klint kid and get him back his weapon."

Klein laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Eh, you have fun with that. Meanwhile I'm going to log off and _not_ study…maybe I'll just take a nap!"

The elder gamer laughed and logged off before the girls could yell at him, and one by one they all logged off too.

Then Asuna and Leafa both gave Kirito a wink as the latter spoke up. "Don't be on too much longer, dinner in 30."

Kirito nodded and waved good bye to both of them. He then took a breath and looked around the city. _"Alright Klint. Who are you and when can I get this dagger back to you?"_

To be honest Kirito really had no idea how to locate the kid, and he had no way of knowing if he or she was even in the town. He could have used a standard name search, but you had to be friends with the player in order for that to work.

However, Kirito also had a secret weapon in the world of ALfheim Online, and just in the nick of time she sprouted up right before his very eyes.

"Where you going, daddy!?" Yelled the tiny pixie follower Yui as she popped out right in front of Kirito.

The black swordsman laughed and held out a hand. "Hey Yui, didn't see ya in the boss fight!" He then got a bright idea. "Actually I may need your help…"

 _~Meanwhile in the capital's general market_

"Oh come on it _has_ to be here!"

A boy with a purple tunic and short brown hair tried pleading with a town merchant about an item he desperately needed. "I know no one would want that ugly dagger, and this is where all the junk loot from boss fights gets sold to!"

"Sorry sir but the item you're looking for is not in our records." The store woman tried explaining the situation to him. "Please buy an item or leave."

"Mgh…" The slightly tall but scrawny Imp from the boss fight before lowered his head in defeat as he turned around. "Man…I'm totally screwed if I don't find that dag…"

"Hey! You looking for this?" Kirito was standing in the doorway of the store, and he also saw the familiar name 'Klint' above the Imp's head and pulled out the black dagger.

The boy who appeared to be Klint smiled as soon as he recognized the player and dagger. "Yea that's what I need! And hey you're Kirito!" He ran over to deliver his thanks. "No way, I joined up in that boss party just to meet you! Kirito the Black Swordsman!"

Kirito smiled and handed over the dagger. "Yea that's me, but that's not important. I mean come on, you and I fought with each other for a moment there! Pretty fun boss fight, right?"

Klint laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Ahahaha yea…I was having fun until I charged in with the last assault. That Lisbeth girl got a good hit on its one wing, but I got shot before I reached the other. Then I died…"

Kirito shrugged. "Hey who cares? That's the way the game's played." He then handed over the item. "I just want to make sure you got your dagger back. That's a pretty gnarly looking piece you got there."

Klint nodded and clutched it like a child. "Oh you have no idea how happy I was to see you with that thing! My game partners would flip if I lost is, but actually I made this dagger myself. It's not that strong here in the world of ALO, but it means a lot to me."

Although the wording confused him, Kirito liked the sound of that. "I can imagine that if you crafted it yourself. I have a friend who's a blacksmith, and she goes pretty nuts over her creations all the time."

Klint rapidly shook his head. "O-oh no you don't understand, I didn't make this weapon in ALO. I made it in _another_ Seed game."

That took Kirito by surprise. Sure the Seed allowed different games to join avatars and experience with ALO, but he never heard of someone bring _items_ back and forth between games. What if he saw a player running around with a GGO rifle all the time in ALO?

The thought puzzled him enough to ignore the clock for dinner and carry on. "Alright I'll bite, how'd you get that dagger in from…whatever game you made it in?"

Klint laughed and stood a bit taller, revealing more height to his body than Kirito first realized. "Oh sorry where are my manors. I'm Klint Rojer, its northern European. I'm a head developer of a private company called _Mystic Gaming_. I have an upcoming project concerning my new world in the Seed…" He then got a smile. "And I'm actually looking for volunteers to join me on cracking the beta for the demo level!"

Kirito stood back for a moment. "Woah a new game that connects to ALO? What's the title?"

That made Klint raise a thumbs up and smile. "I'm glad you asked! Actually my company has premiere production rights to a pretty popular series of stories, and we're slowly bringing it into the Seed system."

Kirito gave him a grin in response. "No way, sounds pretty sweet. Do you think I'd know the series?"

Klint let out a cocky grin and sheathed his tiny dagger back inside his belt. "Well I'd hope so, after all a lot of people know it all around the world. It's called the _Lord of the Rings._ "

* * *

 **Well thank you to all who came to read the first chapter! I just wanted to set the mood with a typical boss fight from SAO, so hopefully this one worked! This is my first ever story for Sword Art Online, so I am both very nervous and very excited to reveal the completed project! It's also been like 2 months or so since I've released content for this website, so I am VERY excited to get back into the game! (I recently graduated from undergrad, and I'm now in a master's program with summer classes, so I've been very busy. Hence the J RR Tolkien quote in the beginning!)**

 **Please _without_ hesitation leave comments and reviews, because they help me as the writer, and you as the reader to better improve the story. This will be a very fun crossover story for me to tell because I love both of these series very much. Stick around for the other chapters (because the entire story is already finished on _Microsoft Word_ and I will make my chapter releases as timely as I can.) **

**Anyway I hope you come back for the second chapter! We'll have our first hero fulldive into the new game. Until then!**


	2. 2: FullDive into Middle-Earth

**Author's Note: Okay here I am with chapter 2! (Also Happy 4th of July to any fellow Americans! It's rainy where I am, but hopefully you're enjoying the holiday weekend!)**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

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Chapter Two

FullDive into Middle-Earth

 _"I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone."_

― Gandalf the Grey, _The Hobbit_

* * *

We now find ourselves in the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Kazuto and Asuna appear to be on a return visit to the East Garden of the Imperial Palace at the center of the city, and right as the crimson sun set over the trees, the couple sat on their usual bench and watched it in awe.

Asuna sighed with a bright smile as she leaned her head on her boyfriend's slender shoulder. "Wow, I always forget how pretty this park is. It really was a good place to have our group picnic the other day!"

Kazuto smiled and nodded as he held Asuna's hand in a tight embrace. "Yea, plus it was nice to bring Yui into the real world. Her program is charging back at home, so I figured it could just be the two of us here tonight."

Asuna nodded and continued to beam with joy as she gazed at the falling sun over the horizon. "That's okay, after all you and I have sort of made this our own private habit over our last few dates. We seem to make it out here at least once a month to watch the sun set."

Kazuto agreed, and the two of them remained quiet to enjoy the evening…until Asuna started smirking.

"Also…you usually take me out to this bench when you have something you wanna tell me."

"AGH!" Kazuto sat up with confusion and a flustered face as he had no idea how to react.

This gave Asuna time to continue. "Remember when you told me about the first time you took me here? You were gonna tell me about GGO that night, but then you held it off for later. Ever since then you've decided to change that habit and just spill what's on your mind here." She then took his hand with a tighter pull.

"And I really appreciate it…as long as whatever you're concerned with isn't deadly or dangerous."

"Uh-hm…yea." He started rubbing the back of his head. "Listen, it might be both? I can't really tell…it's about that dagger I found, and the owner."

Asuna sat up too and let him explain.

"His name was Klint Rojer, or something? I think it's European…anyway he has a new game in the Seed, and he wants a group of beta testers to help him beat the demo so he can release it by the end of the month."

Asuna rolled her eyes. "And of course he wants you to help…why can't they all just leave you alone for once?" She shook her head as Kazuto laughed.

"Yea I get what you mean, but I dunno. The way he described the game sounded a lot like ALO or SAO. Pretty basic medieval stuff with swords and magic. Might be pretty cool."

Asuan looked confused. "Then I don't get it. Why did he bother making a new game?"

Kiazuto smiled and shrugged. "Well, when RPGs wanna be really popular they have two options. They can either be like ALO and create their own lore off of loosely based fiction, or they can go the other route and back the game with a famous series name."

Asuna started to understand. "I get it. So on one hand game creators can just make their very own worlds, but the down side is the players might not be familiar with it and they'll fail to attach to any of the game's characters or quests. On the other hand you can make a game based on a famous movie or something and have all that support, but you may be hard pressed with finding creativity."

"Yea exactly! Anyway this kid's game sounded pretty cool, and it's from a pretty big series of books and movies too."

That made Asuna laugh. "Well hopefully you've seen the movies? I know you're not much of a book reader..."

Kazuto looked embarrassed. "Actually the movies are like 20 years old. I'm not against watching them, but they sound way too confusing for me to pick up. They're called the _Lord of the Rings_."

"Oh well duh I know those!" Asuna laughed. "They're the same as _The Hobbit_ book, right? I've never read it, but I've heard it's pretty popular!"

"Yea, I guess it is." Kazuto tried to confirm. "But this Klint kid is worried his game will be too generic." He then took a deep breath. "And actually that's not even the reason I want to go into his game."

This started to make Asuna feel worried. "W-well what else is there?"

Kazuto paused for a moment before finishing his thought. "That dagger he dropped at the arena, he didn't make it in ALO. He made it in the Lord of the Rings demo game."

"WHAT!?" Asuna was caught by surprise. "So he transferred the item over to ALO? How did he do that?"

Kazuto looked equally as troubled. "I dunno, but it bothers me too…I really want to jump in and see how it works. I mean, will my ALO items transfer in with me? And what about all my stats and XP with it? That'd be pointless unless all the bosses started out in the 100's."

Asuna agreed. "Yea it sounds really silly, but if you're sure he made the dagger in the other game…it is almost worth checking out for yourself."

Then, as Asuna quit talking Kazuto noticed her grip on his hand was getting tighter and tighter. Then he smiled.

"Yea, I figured you'd be worried to have me go into another game alone…I tried asking about bringing you and the others, but he really just wants a small group right now, and he already has other volunteers committed."

Asuna shook her head. "No, if he only asked for you I don't want to clutter things up. I suppose everyone else will be okay with it too…"

Kazuto waited for her to speak again, but it only happened after she leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"But like always I have faith in you, Kirito. You'll help Klint out with his demo, and then when the game is released you can show us all around your new world!"

Kazuto nodded and raised an arm over her shoulder. "Hah, well I look forward to doing just that."

* * *

Now, it was the next day, and Kazuto was just getting ready to leave his house with his motorcycle helmet firmly under his arm.

However, before he could sneak out right at daybreak, his nosey cousin came out to see him leave.

"Wow _*YAWN*_ you're really going to do this?" Suguha Kirigaya stood in the hallway with a tired face as she rubbed one of her eyes open.

She looked slightly disappointed, and Kazuto could tell. "Yea…I was trying to get out of here before you woke up."

Suguha finally woke up and rolled her eyes. "Well, if this wasn't a big deal you'd have no reason for trying to sneak out…seriously are you sure this is going to be a good idea?"

Kazuto went ahead and opened the door to the exit. "Sugu I'll be fine. I'm gonna be gone for a week tops. We're just gonna beat this demo, and then Klint is gonna show me how he coded his items to transfer into ALO. It's a fair trade…I think?" Kazuto began scratching his head and then stopped as he put on his helmet.

"Hey, just keep track of the gang for me. Oh and don't let Asuna freak out either." He then shut the door before his worried kin could say on last word.

This made Suguha paused and reflect the moment has she wondered in the kitchen for breakfast. _"Okay Kazuto…just as long as you're back after one week."_

Kazuto made his long ride into downtown Tokyo pretty quickly. He usually hates speeding in this part of town, but he wanted to see this game with his own eyes, and he wasn't really looking to waste any more time.

 _"_ _A game that lets you transfer items and XP into ALO. This could revolutionize the way the Seed works. Man talk about wild. I mean, that's just a perk, I bet the game's gonna be pretty cool too."_

He remembered hearing Klint talking about earning a license from _New Line Cinema_ , the creators of the original Rings films. After securing that and an okay from the owner of the Lord of the Rings book series his company of _Mystic Gaming_ was ready to develop the first series-sponsored VRMMORPG to ever hit the market with the AmuSphere.

Finally, he arrived in a parking garage at a large business tower in the heart of the city. He was directed to go to room 19 on floor 37 to meet Klint and the other gamers. Klint had a medical staff working for him, because he also wanted the crew to spend extensive amounts of time inside the game to beat the demo as fast as possible (sort of like Kirito's dive into GGO.) The company also needed to moniter their dive into the system, which is why they couldn't just transfer from home or inside ALO.

Finally, after riding the elevator up to his destination, Kazuto found the room he needed to be in. From here, he opened the door and joined 9 other players, one of which was Klint Rojer.

Klint's real life appearance had a pretty plain look. He was tall, and appeared to be pretty slender, with a short head of wavy brown hair combed in a semi-obnoxious manor, and a thin pair of glasses sitting in front of his brown eyes. He looked fairly young as well, maybe around 25 or 26. He wore a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled, and left one button undone on his shirt. He also had slender khaki pants and brown shoes.

As soon as Kazuto entered the room Klint smiled and alerted the other's for an introduction.

"Well gentlemen here he is, the black swordsman himself! Kirito!" He and the others started clapping until Klint embarrassingly stopped for a moment.

"Ahahaha…you are Kirito right..?"

Kazuto nodded and laughed back. "Yea, that's my in-game name at least. Ready to play some games?"

Klint liked the eagerness and nodded. "You bet I am! Remember, by the end of the week you and I will be 100% squared away. You help me test my demo, and I show you my coding for items in return!"

"Sounds good to me." If Kazuto had any fear or anxiety for the game that waited ahead of him, he was doing a pretty good job at hiding it. He made no effort to stop himself as he jumped into one of the medical beds and strapped on the AmuSphere technology.

Then, after getting comfortable in his new bed, the former titan of SAO shouted his usual pre-game command.

"LINK START!"

* * *

Kazuto traveled through the colorfully white void inside his borrowed AmuSphere. He then let the unfamiliar system set up his usual settings, including language.

Finally the white disappeared and the room changed to the standard black and yellow columns and rings that greet every player entering a brand new VR game.

It was here that the new message appeared over his vision.

 **"** **Welcome to**

 **Middle-Earth Online!"**

From there a familiar VR AI read the greeting aloud, and then instructed him on his next procedure.

"…TRANSFERRING ALL APPLICABLE DATA FROM ALO NOW…WELCOME _KIRITO!_ THERE ARE 6 RACES OF MIDDLE-EARTH INHABITANTS TO CHOOSE FROM. PLEASE SELECT WHICH RACE YOU WISH TO PLAY AS."

Kirito remained hesitant in his tiny little room of black, and started scrolling through the 3D pinwheel of choices before him. 6 different beings appeared, and each had a name. Man, Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Maia, and Hobbit.

"Hey!" Kirito smiled as he recognized the name of the last race. "That sounds like the book Asuna was telling me about…man I should have brushed up on my knowledge before entering this game."

He then tried to click on the tiny little character out of curiosity, but as Kirito noticed all 6 choices were still on the wheel, the last 5 were greyed out.

"Hmm…" Kirito pondered for a moment and let his hand hover over the picture of the figure "Man", which actually happened to be an empty figure too, only this one was golden yellow, and appeared as the only clickable option.

"Well, maybe you have to unlock the other ones first?" He reluctantly gave up a chance to become the mysterious Hobbit and picked the boring choice of Man. "Agh…men, elves, dwarves…they all sounded boring. What about an Orc or a Maia? I don't even know what a Maia is?"

Sighing, he then made his choice, and waded through the finale of the selection process.

"YOUR CHARACTER WILL BE GENERATED AT RANDOM, BUT SOME FEATURES MAY TRANSFER FROM PAST SEED GAMES. DO YOU WISH TO FINALIZE YOU CHOICE AS *MAN*?"

"Yea, I guess so?" Kirito waved the 'Yes' option and let the new game load before his eyes.

As the game prepared its loading screen, Kirito was also greeted by a floating line of text to help him wait through the load.

 _"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole and that meant comfort." –J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit_

"Well!" Kirito felt his heart lift up with warmth for a second and smiled. "This sounds like a nice place to start out at. Now those little Hobbit guys sound even better than before!"

As Kirito teased himself, the loading screen finally came to an end, and then he was thrown into the game below.

Here, Kirito landed in a field, only it did not appear to be an ordinary field. In this view the field spread a crossed dozens of rolling green hills, with bulges of land sprouting up from the ground in random occasions. He also saw tiny farmers moving hay and other products in the distance, but he did not see any buildings…at least, he didn't see them at first.

Then Kirito turned to the left, and here he found a tiny circular door sticking out on the side of a hill next to him. It was painted bright green, and a shiny brass door knob sat right in the center. Round windows dotted the front wall of the hill, and a neat little garden and pathway lead right to the door of the hill's mysterious entrance.

Kirito went to move, but then looked down to see his own outfit. He was dressed in a simple black shirt/tunic with dark grey pants and black boots. He also wore a dark steel chain hauberk under his tunic, and had no weapon attached to his belt or back.

"Hmm…so my ALO items didn't transfer. I wonder if that's an endgame perk, or what if it only works the one way?" Either way, Kirito was not comfortable until he found a weapon to place in his hands.

Without another option, the brave man walked through the tiny little hole in the hill and pushed his way inside the cozy little tunnel. There he found a nicely decorated foyer with candle light brimming all the walls, and he also ran into his 9 similarly dressed counterparts standing on a colorful rug.

"Okay, we're all here!" Klint said with a smile on his face. "That's god stuff. Now…it's time to go on our quest!"

Everyone looked at him with confused eyes, and one kid in the front raised a hand.

"Um, you mind telling us what the quest is, exactly?" He looked a little like the Salamander player from ALO who ran in with Klint inside the Corridier boss fight, but now he too was dressed like a boring human character fit for the Middle-Earth.

Klint stuttered for a moment. "O-oh, yea I forgot to do that…hehe. I mean I sort of expected at least _half_ of you to recognize where we are…?" He then gathered a cheeky smile and waited for his followers to reply.

However, none of them shared his equal level of enthusiasm.

Klint then got even more nervous. "Ah…guys it's Bag End? Ya know from _The Hobbit_?"

No one answered.

The first kid did speak up though. "You mean that 100 year old book from England? Or those movies from the early 2000's?"

Klint sighed. "Agh…they actually started coming out in 2012, the one's from the 2000's were the…you know what I can just assume none of you know what I'm talking about."

"Yea? Sorry we don't speak nerd." Another gamer laughed and gathered a few more chuckles as he high fived the first guy.

Klint sighed and face-palmed. "Yea, yea get it out of your systems…unless you don't want the cash at the end of the demo."

The players quickly remembered the generous bounty they were fit to receive in the real world and quickly shut their mouths. Then, Klint smiled once again.

"Well this is actually better, because now I can teach you all about this enchanted world myself! However, there are a few things you all need to receive before we leave…"

Klint started by pulling out a chain of several tiny dark silver rings, nine in total. He then pulled them all off the chain and popped one on his right index finger.

Then, he handed one out to all the players. "Here. The 'Game of the Rings' wouldn't be the same without rings, am I right? Put these on and prepare to be amazed!"

The players all did so and waited for some kind of show to begin. Soon after they all felt their energy increase by 10 fold, and they noticed their health, stamina, and mana bars all went up significantly as well.

The first rude player raised an eyebrow. "Okay…now I'm impressed, but what kind of boss requires early perks like this?"

Klint continued being a tease and never gave him a verbal answer, and with a snap of his fingers all the players were given brand new swords.

Kirito reached down to his belt, but stupidly remembered his avatar usually programmed his sword to his back. Then, he reached behind his head and grabbed the handle, and as he did his eyes shot out to 3 times their normal size.

Removing the blade from his back's scabbard, Kirito was left in pure shock as his famed _Elucidator_ was sitting in the palm of his hand, fresh out of the original medieval VRMMORPG, _Sword Art Online_.

"Wha…where did you get this?" Kirito grazed the tip of his familiar blade with pure awe as Klint smiled, and as he did the other players were all given pretty impressive blades as well.

Klint shrugged. "Hey, what can I say? You can just call me the _Lord of the Rings_."

No one made a remark as they were all too star struck looking at their new loot. This left Klint to comment once again. "Let me guess…none of you get that reference either?"

All the dumbfounded gamers softly shook their heads and began playing with their new swords, which left Klint to turn his head away from his crew and smile.

"Whe-hell…good enough for me."

* * *

 **Well that's two in the books...literally.**

 **I'm gonna try and find a nice quote from Tolkien or the books & films that go along with the theme of each chapter. Also, concerning the OC Klint, as far as his name goes it might not actually be authentic European, but that's not the point. His full name actually has an easter egg meaning, and I'd love for readers to try and find it out! Anyway we'll catch up in the next chapter to see what Asuna thinks of all of this.**

 **(Also, each chapter might not come out right on the next day. I may gap them depending on how much time I have to edit, but again the story is completed on MS Word so I won't have like weeks or months on end without releasing!) Comment and review are still encouraged!**


	3. 3: The Makings of an Adventure

**Author's Note: Okay here's chapter 3! We're gonna see what the other characters are up to. Hope you enjoy! (Also I got a random survey on my profile page if anyone wants to check it out. It's not anything important, but it's there!)**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Three

The Makings of an Adventure

 _"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."_

― Bilbo Baggins, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

It's now been over a week since Kazuto Kirigaya and his 9 other companions set foot inside the world of Middle-Earth. April was turning into May within a week or two, and no one had heard a thing from him, Klint, or the other eight members of the missing party.

Now, Asuna and all her closest friends find themselves inside the _Dicey Café_ , sitting in wait as their other ALO friend Andrew Mills serves them all drinks in this stressful hour.

"Man, it's pretty weird for him to not even say anything to us…" Andrew, or 'Agil' as he was usually referred to shook his head with confusion. "But I mean come on! He usually tells at least _you_ guys where he is!"

Andrew looked down at Asuna and Suguha, who both sat uncomfortably on two of the bar stools inside the café. Several other friends sat with them at a table down below, including Rika (Lisbeth), Keiko (Silica), Shino (Sinon), and even Ryōtarō (Klein) came in to discuss the matter.

Before the room got too silent, Ryōtarō stood up and slammed his hand on the table. "Well damn it guys! Are we just gonna sit here and do nothing?!"

Rika rolled her eyes. "Klein, what the hell can we do? Besides if we had any idea where they were playing the game do you honestly think Asuna and Suguha wouldn't have jumped on that chance to begin with?"

Keiko sank down in her chair. "Well we have to be able to find him somehow…I mean can't we have someone track where the AruSphere is?"

"…" Asuna barely sounded audible in her response, as if she already tried that. In reality she did.

After the first week ended Asuna quickly called one of Kazuto's closet "friends" in the world of VR to help her out. His name was Seijirō Kikuoka, and he had a position inside the government's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (or Virtual Reality Division.) She had met him inside ALO once under the name _Chrysheight_ , but other than that she usually let Kazuto worry about him and his deeds.

Now, she tried to get him to help out with this, and to her luck Seijirō agreed. He and a small team had been inside both Tokyo's city streets and ALO's main servers trying to locate the whereabouts of the new game's location, but right now she hadn't heard any news back from him whatsoever.

Needless to say, she and the others were starting to get worried. "I…I mean I have Chrysheight looking for him in real life and in ALO, but so far he hasn't gotten back to me."

"Man this stinks!" Rika started getting frustrated too, and everyone else was starting to lose their grip as well.

Shino sighed and turned to Suguha up at the bar. "Did Kirito ever say anything to you when he left? Or did he even bother to leave a note or address?"

"No…" Suguha leaned on both of her hands over the counter. "And that's just like him…jumping in to something without a real idea on how to get out."

Silence filled the room for a short moment, until Asuna stood up from her bar stool and grabbed her purse from the counter.

"Well, we're not getting anything done in here. I say we jump into ALO and help with the hunt."

Everyone looked confused and Andrew spoke first. "Hold up, you're gonna try and find him without any help?"

Asuna shrugged as she walked out the door. "Well I mean if you guys wanna come with me, I think that's all the help I'll need."

She then turned to everyone with a smile on her face, and suddenly the mood in the room shifted from lost to hopeful.

Finally, Rika grinned and stood up as she began to dust off her hands. "Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go catch us a Kirito!"

* * *

Now, all the friends were inside the world of ALO, and they decided to start out by splitting up inside the capital city under the World Tree known as Alne. One group lead by Klein and Agil searched all around the tree's lower city perimeter, while the girls traced around the floors of the tree itself, and even did some snooping around Yggdrasil City and the Teleport Gate above.

As they wondered around the tree top city Asuna kept her guard up for any weird activities, including any odd recruitment groups she could find involving anyone trying to join a new VR game.

With her were Lisbeth and Leafa, and far off in the distance behind them were the two Cat Sí Sinon and Silica, who stayed back to monitor the others with their superb senses of sight and hearing.

Now, Asuna, Leafa, and Lisbeth were starting to get impatient without seeing a single trace of the words "Lord of the Rings VR" or "Middle-Earth Online." Kirito told them the game was supposed to release within the month, but apparently with their delayed exit from the demo that release date would have to be put on hold. The group Kirito went in with were just testing the game's abilities, but by now they had to be developing technology to transport people into the game without having to use a specific AmuSphere.

Right away, Lisbeth was starting to get angry. "Okay, why would this creep not give any of us info on where they were playing the game? More importantly why did Kirito have to go to his place to play it?"

Leafa replied. "Kazuto told me they wanted to beat the demo in one play though, so because of that they needed a medical station to help keep them healthy for a full game."

Asuna nodded. "Right, which begs the question…why couldn't they just use a regular hospital like other long-term gamers?"

They started walking through a very large crowd, and as the group tried to stay trim, Leafa accidentally ran into a tall man walking in front of her.

"Oh I'm so sorry about…" She went to apologize until the man turned around and finished the apology for her.

"Oh excuse me I didn't mean to stay standing in the…" He froze up as soon as he looked at Leafa's pretty face.

This man was also a Sylph, but he looked very different from Leafa. He was very tall, and looked to be a healthy size, with broad shoulders but a thin frame. He also wore a soft cloak of forest green, and wore an ornate broach at the collar of his cloak that matched a very elaborate head piece atop his crowned golden head of hair. Finally, his eyes were a soft shade of green as well, and a very comfortable smile finished off his expression as he looked to his three new acquaintances.

Instantly he started to smile. "Oh my, you are indeed a fair Sylph maiden…could I ask for your name?"

"EHH?" Leafa stood back with discomfort, and right away Lisbeth walked forward and grabbed the guy's collar, as if he were Kirito.

"Listen pal we've had a long week, and we don't need your crap right now!" She kept her voice at a normal volume, but tried to keep it intimidating.

The man started to worry. "Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to be rude…" He then turned and noticed a third girl standing with them, a blue haired Undine warrior with a very familiar name above her head.

"Dear god…you're _Lightning Flash Asuna_. From SAO?"

Asuna started looking like Leafa. "Wha…? I don't know what to…"

The man raised his hands and bowed in an overly dramatic fashion. "Oh thank heavens I found you all! I am a good friend of your companion, Kirito. He is playing inside my company's new game as we speak."

Now Asuna started acting like Lisbeth, and felt a little rage coming out of her veins. "Hold on, you know where Kirito is?"

The man continued to bow. "Yes, Milady in fact I most certainly do. He and a colleague of mine are with eight others, and they're waiting on the other side of the cleared demo for other players to join them!" He then stood up. "You all are those players!"

"Excuse me?" Leafa said with a snappy attitude. "If that's the case why hasn't he just come out to see us himself?"

The man sighed. "Frankly I do not know. My friend Klint keeps them occupied with trivial quests as they wait for the second batch of players to help them." He then started laughing. "Oh where are my manors, I forgot to introduce myself!"

He then held up both hands and smiled once more. "You may call me Annatar, the _Lord of Gifts_ and GM of _Middle-Earth Online_. A brand new sensation of virtually reality, which brings Middle-Earth to the AmuSphere method of gaming!"

Asuna's eyes flashed open. "Wait that _is_ the game Kirito's in!" She then stood forward. "So you know where he is?"

Annatar was expecting a more hostile version of Asuna after he revealed his title anyway. "Ahaha…well I take it you all don't follow the Rings series, or the Hobbit for that matter?"

Lisbeth shook her head. "Whaa? Those 100 year old books? Yea right…you'd have to be a total nerd to enjoy reading those things!" She looked at Leafa with a giggle, and Annatar face-palmed in response.

"Eh…well I take it you don't recognize my avatar's…you know what why am I trying to explain it? Anyway what's say we take a trip inside my new game and find you're missing Kirito?!"

Asuna stopped for a moment. "Well, we do have other friends who would like to see him too…"

Annatar stopped her there. "Oh I'm sorry, but they can come in on the next batch! This round is only accepting 3 elven warriors, which you three perfectly fit the part for!"

Leafa raised an eyebrow and started to turn her head, letting Asuna and Lisbeth do the rest of the talking. She then tried to find Sinon and Silica in the distance, and realized they were now probably eavesdropping in on the conversation from a safe location.

Finally, as she turned around, Asuna's confirmation to Annatar met her ears.

"Fine, we'll play your game, but only if we see Kirito when it's over."

Annatar shook her hand. "Deal. After all I am the Lord of Gifts!" He then smiled and held up a mystical ring and placed it around his left index finger. "Don't step out of the circle, and here we go!"

"WAIT RIGHT HERE!?" All the girls yelled and grabbed each other's hands as they were quickly taken in through the circle teleporter and into a brand new world.

Right as the blue light disappeared Sinon and Silica tried running for the portal, but it magically disappeared before they could reach it.

"Ah damn it!" Sinon stopped in the ground. "We missed our chance!"

Silica looked worried. "I don't like how that guy was already here looking for Kirito's friends…You think they'll be another chance to get in the game?"

Sinon sighed and shrugged, and quickly sheathed her bow and took a seat right on the open ground.

"Maybe? All's I know is I'm waiting right her until it happens."

* * *

On the other side Asuna waited inside a lone portal to the other game. This was her first time transferring an avatar since the one she used from SAO, and the thought of being alone for a short amount of time made her nervous.

Finally, she passed through the void and into the new title room, were the message **"Welcome to Middle-Earth Online!"** greeted her with open arms.

Like Kazuto before her, Asuna was also greeted by a voice from above, which instructed her to carry on in a selection process.

"…TRANSFERRING ALL APPLICABLE DATA FROM ALO NOW…WELCOME ASUNA! THERE ARE 6 RACES OF MIDDLE-EARTH INHABITANTS TO CHOOSE FROM. PLEASE SELECT WHICH RACE YOU WISH TO PLAY AS."

Asuna remained hesitant in her choice, and thus she started scrolling through the 3D pinwheel of choices. 6 different beings appeared, and each had a name. Man, Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Maia, and Hobbit.

Suna tried to look at all of them in depth, but 5 of them were completely greyed out, and only one remained in yellow

Elf.

"Hmm…" Asuna pondered for a moment and let her hand hover over the picture of the figure in gold.

"Well, I guess I don't have any other options…" Sighing, Asuna then made her only choice, and waded through the finale of the selection process.

"YOUR CHARACTER WILL BE GENERATED AT RANDOM, BUT SOME FEATURES MAY TRANSFER FROM PAST SEED GAMES. DO YOU WISH TO FINALIZE YOU CHOICE AS *ELF*?"

"mmm…" Asuna reluctantly waved the 'Yes' option and let the new game load before her eyes.

Finally, after making her only possible choice of staying as an elf, Asuna passed through another loading screen, only this one greeted her with a quote during her wait. This one however differed from Kirito's.

 _"_ _Far over the Misty Mountains cold_

 _To dungeons deep and caverns old_

 _We must away, ere break of day_

 _To find our long-forgotten gold."_

 _-Thorin Oakenshield,_ _The Hobbit_

"Hmm…" Asuna let out the first smile in her time passing through the game. "That actually sounds like a pretty fun adventure." She then kept her eyes focused on the last verse.

 _"_ _To find our long-forgotten gold."_

Then, a tiny little pain in her chest came out of nowhere, right in her heart.

 _"_ _No one's forgotten about you. Please stay right there Kirito, wherever you are…"_

Eventually the loading stopped, and Asuna landed feet first right on the ground of a dirt road along a luscious green hill. The hill stretched out over a dozen fields wide, and right beside her was the very same Bag End hobbit hole that greeted Kirito on his first adventure earlier.

Asuna had no idea what any of this was and nervously walked forward to open the round green door, and as she turned the yellow brass handle, the door swung open to reveal her two missing friends and the unfamiliar Annatar.

She then stopped for a moment and realized other than their outfits Leafa and Lisbeth basically remained the same, elven ears and all. However the weird part about all of this transforming had to be her own new head of hair.

When she reached out to grab her bangs, Asuna realized her hair was the brownish/orange color of her earth hair, not blue like an Undine. She then ran to the side of the foyer to find a long mirror, where she earned a better look at her new attire.

Asuna's new outfit did not look like anything out of ALO, but actually it more resembled her original outfit from SAO of all places. Not her armor from the Knights of the Blood Oath, but her very first outfit in her first month of SAO. The only difference was a slight change in color. Her skirt and vest were dark grey, but the rest remained white. Finally, as mentioned before her hair was now the original color it was in real life, no resemblance of her days in ALO.

Asuna quickly turned to find Leafa and Lisbeth smiling back at her, and the first one spoke first. "Hey! Nice hair change!"

Lisbeth had an interesting design. Her cloths were the same from her days in SAO, but her elven ears were still there. Leafa also wore a pretty plain outfit, and hers resembled Asuna's, only it was green instead of blue.

Finally, all the elf ladies turned to find Annatar dressed in the exact same outfit he had on in ALO, and he appeared to be sitting in a foyer chair smoking a pipe.

Right away Asuna put her foot down. "Okay, how'd you transfer that outfit between games?"

Annatar laughed. "Oh that's the perk that awaits all who beat my game. Until then you'll have to learn the process by clearing it yourself!" He then put out his pipe and stood up.

"Apologies for not having Bilbo, Thorin, or any of the other lovable faces from the original story, but I can't imagine you all know who they are anyway…"

Lisbeth crossed arms. "Like I said, we're not the _nerd-_ type."

Annatar laughed at that. "Right, well what I'm trying to say is that no heroes or villains from the series are currently installed. The only ones you'll find are famous creatures and beasts, because any human-like character will have to wait until the beta is finished and perfected."

Leafa put her hands on her hips. "Does it look like we care about that crap? Just show use where to go and let us finish this game!"

Annatar raised his hands in defense, but kept his smile firmly on his face. "Ah you're right. You lovely ladies aren't familiar with the series, so I must brief you before you set off." He then threw up his 3D map of the world.

"Welcome to MEO's demo quest! Here, you exquisite warriors will recreate the epic journey of _the Hobbit_ and set off in search of the Lonely Mountain. There you will defeat the terrible beast _Smaug the Golden_ and claim your prize as Kings of Eribor…or Queens? Eh it doesn't matter since you guys will probably jump right into the real game to find Kirito right after it ends."

Asuna and the other two were still looking very annoyed even as Annatar tried to lighten the mood. Therefore he had no choice but to continue.

"Alright, but since you all wish to play the Lord of the Rings more than the Hobbit, let me deliver you the same gifts I gave Kirito and his companions." He then pulled out a chain of rings similar to Klint's only these weren't dark steel, but instead three shiny gold and silver rings each with tiny blue, red, and white gems.

Asuna raised an eyebrow as she took the white one from his offering, and then she noticed he had on an array of similar rings all around his fingers. She then saw that Lisbeth took the red, and Leafa the blue. Then they all waited for Annatar's explanation.

"Well…put them on?"

All the girls looked at one another and took a great big gulp. Instantly they put on the rings and felt an unusual serge of power and mana flowing through their bodies.

Asuna pulled up her menu and realized her levels were all the same from SAO, and her overall level was 94 once again. She also felt lighter, and faster than before, and realized the ring was providing a ridiculous amount of buffs to her character.

"Whoa!" Lisbeth remarked. "These things are ridiculously OP! How strong is this Smaug guy gonna be?"

"Eh, he's not a guy he's a…well let's just say it's nothing these fine weapons won't fix!" Annatar shrugged and snapped his fingers.

Then, the girls felt their belts get slightly heavier, except for Lizbeth who found a new weapon on her back instead. She then reached back and stopped her breathing as she recognized the weapon's handle.

It was her _Zoringen Hammer_ , the Blacksmith's hammer she used in Sword Art Online. Lisbeth had no idea where it came from, and definitely didn't know how to react when she saw it.

Leafa was also left in a state of confusion because her weapon came from ALO, and it happened to be her silver Elven warrior's sword.

Asuna would have acknowledged them, but she was too awe struck at her own weapon's revelation.

It was _Lambent Light_. Her long lost rapier from Sword Art Online.

Asuna's hand trembled as she had no idea how to respond. The last time she wielded this blade was the moment she sacrificed her life to save Kirito's on the 75th floor of Aincrad. Instantly she looked up at a smirking Annatar, who shrugged.

"Go ahead. Test her out."

Asuna looked down and kept her trembling hand firmly on the handle of the fencing foil, and then she took a deep breath, unsheathing it from the scabbard and letting it see light for one more time.

The blade was a polished silver steel, just like it was in SAO. It felt exactly the same as it did back then, light-weight and all. She gave the air a few good slices before stopping for another recollection.

"H-how…how did you get these in here from SAO?"

Lisbeth agreed. "Also how did Leafa's sword get transferred from ALO?"

Annatar looked completely taken back. "Isn't that what you all were wanting to find out for yourselves? Here are lost weapons and weapons from afar sitting in your very hands, and now you ask me how I did it? Well…once again just consider me as the _Lord of Gifts_."

Lisbeth and Leafa still looked confused, but behind them Asuna narrowed her vision. She then looked down to her sword, and then down at her new ring fitted around her right index finger.

Without a second thought she sheathed the sword and slipped the ring off her finger, alerting her new in-game guide. Immediately the SAO sword disappeared and the other two girls looked like they saw a ghost.

Now, Asuna shrugged and slipped the ring into her pocket. "Actually I'll save my perk for the end of the game. Or better yet, maybe I'll wait to bring it out when we play the real one…with Kirito."

Annatar liked her attitude and bowed. "You are both fair and wise, Lady Asuna. I approve of your spirit. Let me see if you can brave the game without that magnificent gift. But…do not be afraid to use it in _any_ hour of true need."

Then, Annatar earned a new glow of gold around his body, and immediately drifted through the ceiling of Bag End. "Well, I'm off to check on the rest of the game. My ladies I leave thee to venture into the world of Middle-Earth for yourselves. Make way for the house of Elrond at Rivendell and see where your new quest takes you!"

Then, in a flash of blinding light he was gone in an instant. Right away Asuna ran over and took the ring off of Leafa's finger for her. She then walked over and did the same for Lisbeth.

"Hey, what'd ya do that for!?" Lisbeth cried out as her once missing mace was now gone again.

Asuna looked at her and Leafa and gave them their rings back. "Don't lose these, but whatever you do…do _not_ put them back on just yet. I have a bad feeling about this Annatar guy, and we're gonna find out what it is."

Leafa sighed and straightened her now lighter belt. "Okay, so how are we gonna do that?"

Asuna shrugged and found a note sitting on Annatar's original chair. She then walked forward and spoke her mind.

"Like he said. We're going to beat the quest, kill the boss, and win the game."

* * *

 **Well if you're wondering I tried to use all their Japanese names in the real world, and then use their avatar names when they enter the game (Example: Kazuto becomes Kirito when he enters in the games). Also Annatar's name is...yea any big LOTR fans probably know the meaning. If not look it up.**

 **BTW I had to use a _LOT_ of databases to make sure my LOTR knowledge and facts were all accurate. I want to be as true to the material as possible, and I will often switch back and forth from using the books and films since they do differ from time to time (the literature in the books is so rich and perfect, but the scenery and soundtrack from the films are all equally as impressive! I listened to SO much LOTR music to write these scenes haha!)**

 **Finally, as Annatar sort of explained this story will not actually feature any human characters from the LOTR series, because it really is an SAO story with only LOTR elements, however...do not let that fool you. I worked with almost every SAO character I could (good and bad), and they all might pop up throughout the story in the least likeliest of places.**

 **Anyway we now know the demo quest, and it's one any fan of the Hobbit series should be familiar with! However I wonder if the road will take them in the same path as Bilbo and the others, or will they make it unique...? Find out next time! Comment and review!**


	4. 4: The Road Through East Eriador

**Author's Note: Hello again! Here we return, and now Asuna and the other elvish girls are now ready to begin their adventure. But will it have a fair ending? I don't know!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings_.**

* * *

Chapter Four

The Road through East Eriador

 _"The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow, if I can."_

― J.R.R. Tolkien, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

Asuna marched through the dusty yet pleasant paths of Hobbiton as she left for the new quest along the eastern road. She had only been inside this so called "Shire" for less than an hour, but as the time rolled on she quickly realized why this game was meant to be a big deal.

"Wow this map is incredible!" The brown haired teenager exclaimed with a glowing grin. "I mean even if that Klint guy is worried his game won't have a good story, the graphics and landscape are far superior to anything I've ever seen."

Lisbeth trailed behind her with a smile just like Asuna's. "Yea no joke. I love the little guys with furry feet too! They all have funny names, and they're super polite!"

Leafa nodded in agreement. "Yea, if I actually liked reading I would consider picking up that _Hobbit_ book and finding out what really happens."

Asuna nodded and pointed ahead. "Well you're in luck, because the three of us are going to do exactly that!"

Lisbeth liked Asuna's mood, but sighed. "Um yea…listen I know we've played a lot of games, but this map looks like it's gonna be huge. Plus the creepy Annatar guy said there are no characters in this game, or at least the human-ey ones…how are we supposed to ask a bunch of irrelevant NPCs where the quest goes?"

Asuna stopped at a fork in the road and scratched her chin as she picked to walk right. "Well we already have one lead. Annatar told us our next stop needs to be Rivendell, so I guess we're going to Rivendell!"

Lisbeth shook her head. "Yea, we'll trust the creepy guy on that, but when he gives us cool rings we have to put them away…"

Asuna held her head high. "Lisbeth we can't go around and use items like that, it's kind of cheating. Besides…what if he _wants_ us to put them on for some secret reason we don't know about?"

Lisbeth argued back. "Yea? Well what if he _wants_ us to go to Rivendell?"

Leafa tapped her chin. "Well I mean this Rivendell place has to be in the Hobbit, otherwise this quest would be a waste of time. So I don't think he'd benefit from hurting us without getting through his quest and letting us test it for him first."

Lisbeth sighed. "Yea I guess so…anyway do we even think we're going the right way?"

"I dunno, let me check!" Asuna stopped and pulled out a paper map. She then got a quizzical look on her face because all the writing was in a completely foreign language unique to the game.

Then, Asuna traced a finger along a line, and as it passed through a long stretch of road, she finally found a long spine of mountains running vertically down the map's center.

"Well there! Those look like mountains to me! I bet one of them has to be lonely!" She then tucked away the map and continued moving forward.

Lisbeth shook her head and followed. "Yea…I guess that'll be the entire trip." She then raised an eyebrow as Asuna started humming. "Um…so even though Kirito is missing you seem to be in a pretty good mood."

Asuna nodded. "Well yea, this world is amazing! I know we don't know where Kirito is, but how many seconds of our lives have been wasted from worrying about Kirito in the past? Knowing him…he always finds a safe way out."

Asuna told herself that, but she also knew that it was actually Kirito who taught her to enjoy the world around her, regardless of the negative feelings. As a result, she tried doing just that.

Leafa nodded slightly and had to agree. "Yea, you are right about that one. Maybe we are worrying too much!" Either way Leafa and Lisbeth still remained puzzled at the sight of such a calm Asuna, especially after she just pulled that intimidating poker face out in front of Annatar back in Bag End.

However, before the conversation could carry on, Asuna pointed at a wide swath of forest that sat just south of the path.

Instantly, she looked ready to run off the road. "Wait the map said this place is pretty unique! We should stop in for a minute!"

Lisbeth tilted her head. "Um…what exactly is this place called?"

Asuna pulled out the map and tried to match it with Annatar's notes, one page of which provided a very poor translator for only a few early sections of the map.

"It says…it's called…the _Old Forest_!"

Asuna wanted to say more, but just then a whirl of wind blew by and caused a strange sound to come from the trees of the forest.

"Oh no!" Lisbeth yelled. "We have no weapons until we find a real town, and we can't use those rings we were given. I ain't going in no spooky forest without a weapon!"

Leafa started to ponder. "Well, does it offer a short cut or something?"

Asuna looked at the map. "It trims part of the road, because the original track goes all the way around the north end. It might be like 30 minutes of saved time!"

"Yea…" Leafa nodded. "I mean, I doubt Annatar would make a hard place this close to the original spawn."

Leafa and Asuna gave each other a nod and walked in the forest, and soon after Lisebth let out her breath and followed.

* * *

Now, the three girls were wondering around the darkened green of the Old Forest for some time, at least long enough to forget the time of day. They could see sun beams shooting through the branches overhead, but no actual make or direction could be determined from it.

Asuna tried to keep a cheery face on the entire trip, but Leafa kept right behind her with a look of panic and alerted fear.

Leafa also looked a little tense, but not like Lisbeth who was just easy to spook. Leafa started hearing weird things along the entire forest path. They almost sounded like…voices.

However she was quickly distracted as her party of 2 extra halted in front of her, with Asuna holding the map and Lisbeth looking over Asuna's shoulder.

"Let's see…" Asuna began to ponder their next route. "I think we need to go this way to make it back onto the road."

Lisbeth tried to look at the map, but the creepy branches overhead were stealing her attention. "Y-yea? Well just find the quickest way out and use it!"

Leafa started feeling a shiver roll down her spine as another weird voice came from the far back side of the path. "Y-yea I agree with Lisbeth. This forest almost sounds like its talking…"

"OH SO I'M NOT CRAZY!?" Lisbeth was half relieved and half frightened as the truth was slowly being revealed. Now she and Leafa were both pining for an exit as fast as one could be delivered.

Asuna put the map away and turned to the left. "Fine, the road should just be over a few extra hills. We'll miss the rest of the short cut, but maybe you guys are right…this place is starting to…"

Lisbeth and Leafa went to ask why Asuna stopped talking, until they too saw the monstrously overgrown tree that sat in a clearing right up ahead. Its grey willow branches gnarled up into the sky like claws, and its leaves looked withered and dried. Also, the front was also starting to look like a face the closer you walked towards it.

Long story short, it was not a tree meant for staring at.

Lisbeth realized that and tried to walk around it. "Okay that does it, no more creepy tree for me! We're getting out of here right now…!" She went to continue speaking, but her foot stepped on an exposed root, and right then the ground shook from underneath her feet, and the tree trunk started to shake.

"Oh no…what was that?" Asuna turned to see a frozen Lisbeth not willing no move another inch. The next thing you know the tree started shaking chaotically around in place, and right then long and mangled branches came out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around the three girls' waists, quickly lifting them all up and into the air.

As the girls flew into the air they all screamed and smacked the tree's limbs with ferocious back lashes from their fists, but to no avail the hits were doing absolutely nothing.

Lisbeth started yelling from her own coiled branch. "OKAY I THINK IT'S TIME TO USE THE RINGS NOW!"

"HOLD ON!" Asuna yelled back as she managed to unpin the note from her pocket. "I THINK I FOUND THE SECTION ABOUT THIS PLACE…YEA THIS IS THE OLD FOREST!"

Leafa was starting to get dizzy as she yelled back. "IS THAT FROM ANNATAR!? WHAT DOES IT SAY TO DO!?"

Asuna tried to concentrate. "IT SAYS IF YOU FIND YOURSELVES IN THE VIOLENT CLUTCHES OF THE OLD WILLOW TREE…MAKE LIKE THE HOBBITS OF THE SHIRE AND WAIT FOR MERRY OL' TOM BOMBADIL TO COME TO THE RESCUE…"

"OH THANK GOD SOME MINDLESS NPC IS GOING TO SAVE US!" Lisbeth cried out with sarcasm as the tree started spinning her around with all her yelling making everything worse.

Then Asuna finished her read. "…PLEASE NOTE TOM BOMBADIL IS NOT YET IMPLEMENTED INTO THE _MEO GAME_ YET!?'"

"WHAT!?" Leafa and Lisbeth both yelled at the same time, and that only made the tree mad. It began thrashing them around harder and harder, and right then two rings fell out from their pockets, one of white and one of red.

"OH NO NOT THE RINGS!" Lisbeth tried to get her ring back, but was once again hurled into the air.

Asuna looked to see she had no chance to get either ring, but then realized Leafa's was still safe. "LEAFA! YOU HAVE TO TRY USING YOURS!"

"WHA!? B-BUT WHAT IF I…!?" Leafa sounded nervous to break the code, because she didn't want to endanger her or her friends any more than they already were.

Asuna tried to explain. "IT MAY UNLOCK YOUR MAGIC POWER FROM ALO! YOU CAN TRY USING A SPELL TO SET US FREE! JUST TAKE IT OFF WHEN YOU'RE DONE!"

"BUT I ONLY KNOW WIND SPELLS! WE'D PROBABLY NEED FIRE TO HELP GET US OUT OF…"

"NOOO…!" Lisbeth interjected as she was about to throw up. "WIND SOUNDS GOOD USE WIND!"

Leafa sighed with the little breath she had and tried to wiggle her ring free. Then, after inhaling her crushed lungs with air, she put the ring back on. Right away the serge of powerful energy flew through her veins just like before, and as a result she tried unlocking an extremely powerful wind spell from ALO.

She kept her voice at a low monotone as her hands started to glow with golden light. "I control the winds in this forest. Now…bend to my will!"

Nothing happened, and the result came in the form of a large explosion and black smoke which damaged Leafa, her friends, and part of the tree's branches.

However, the tree didn't sound ready to drop them, but that blast pretty much made up its mind on whether or not to kill them.

Asuna and Lisbeth felt more breath leaving their crushed lungs as the former spoke up. "Try… _*cough*_ …it…again…!"

Leafa closed her eyes and summoned what little energy she had left, and this time she once again yelled at the top of her lungs.

"I CONTROL THE WINDS OF THIS FOREST! NOW, BEND TO MY WILL!"

Then, a large gust of violent storm wind howled through the clearing and nearly uprooted the large willow tree. As it did the beastly plant was forced to release its captives and fling backwards to try and readjust to its movement from the winds.

Leafa and the others crashed to the ground, and as they all collected their breaths. Asuna and Lisbeth grabbed their rings.

Finally, Asuna started smiling and rubbed her head. "So…no more forests for this trip?"

* * *

As soon as the three young ladies made it out of the Old Forest they found themselves quickly back on the east road and onto their next location. After stopping in at the lovely Village of Bree, they all found a nice table at the village's _Prancing Pony_ , which served as a local inn and tavern.

Lisbeth had left to talk to the barkeep, and she also took the map with her to clarify where they needed to go next. This left Asuna and Leafa sitting alone at their corner table with tired eyes and full glasses of ale.

"Ugh…that walk from the Shire was pretty rough." Leafa said as she rubbed her lower back. "I'm just glad we found chairs."

"Yea…" Asuna sounded equally exhausted as she took a deep breath. "All in a day's travel I suppose." She then sat up.

"Hey, I'm sorry if it sounded like I was snapping at you in the forest. That spell you used was pretty cool."

Leafa smiled back and waved a hand. "You were snapping at me? I just figured that was you choking and yelling from the tree branch." She then pulled out her ring and set it on the table. "Yea…we need to figure out a way to unlock this power without wearing these things."

Asuna nodded. "True but I doubt it'll be that easy."

Then both girls took a sip of their mugs, and right then Leafa spoke up.

"Hey Asuna…if you don't mind me asking…how are you so calm and collected with Kazuto missing?"

"What do you mean…?" Asuna sounded embarrassed, as if she hadn't been worried enough for her missing boyfriend.

Leafa spoke quickly. "No I don't mean I like that! I mean…I'd love to just tell myself he'll be fine. This game really is pretty neat...I was just wondering how you're able to convince yourself that even with Kazuto being gone."

"Oh…well hmm let me think." Asuna had to collect a thought for a moment before she smiled and grabbed Leafa's hand.

"I guess it was seeing my old rapier today. It sort of brought me back into the days of SAO…man my first days in there were just as rough. I remember trying to convince myself I needed to fight to survive, and sometimes I even just considered giving up. Then one day I found a kid sleeping in a field, and then I noticed that instead of frantically trying to return home to the real world, he was taking a nap, and enjoying his time that he had in SAO."

Leafa looked confused until Asuna laughed.

"That boy was Kirito. He taught me that no matter what, I can't waste a day of my life thinking of the negatives, especially when I'm surrounded by a world full of positives, and positive people."

Leafa knew Asuna was referring to her and her other friends, and as a result she smiled back. "Wow, that's really sweet Asuna…"

Then, both girls were interrupted as Lisbeth finally came back, and as she did she slammed the map down with one hand and a tall mug of ale with the other.

"Alright I found out which way to go...Asuna you were right. We need to keep heading east and make for the House of Elrond? I guess it really is in this Rivendell place."

Asuna nodded and raised a glass. "Alright sounds good, we'll pick up or travels tomorrow. Until then let's have a drink on our first day in MEO!"

Leafa had no problem raising a glass to those words after her quick conversation with Asuna just moments before, and as Lisbeth paused for a moment and looked at her two crazy friends, she sighed.

"Well…I guess that's better than what I had to say."

* * *

 **Sorry if this chapter felt short! I thought so a little bit, but I had fun when I read it back to myself so i think it works! For the record SAO doesn't offer a lot of material for character personalities outside Kirito and Asuna. We see them all a lot, but they usually get dwarfed (actually even Asuna kind of falls behind Kirito.) I really like this story cause it let me expand more with these characters. For example I know Klein is probably the show's main comic relief, but I always get a vibe that Lisbeth is too, because she can be kinda snappy and goofy. Also Asuna and Leafa are supposed to have a pretty close relationship, but the real series kind of just put it together without resolving Leafa's awkward opinion on Asuna and her relationship with Kirito. I wanted to show they're all 3 pretty close to one another (and the others too, wherever they are!)**

 **Anyway that's numba 4! _The Hobbit_ never took us through the Old Forest, it was the Fellowship book, but I wanted to twist as much of the original story up as I could to keep it from getting too boring/predictable or copy and pasted. You may note that I implant several great quotes from the LOTR series into the dialogue of some characters just for nostalgia/fun, so those can be more easter eggs for you! (Also did anyone figure out the meaning behind the name "Klint Rojer" yet?)**

 **Chapter 5 tomorrow maybe? I dunno I have a big test for my school program tomorrow, so I may take a break. Or I might upload until the weekend, and just make this story a 5 day/weekday upload story. I'll figure something out! Like always comment and Review!**


	5. 5: Trolls, Orcs, and Fellow Elves

**Author's Note: Well here's chapter 5! I think I'm going to try and upload a chapter every weekday, and take Saturdays and Sundays off. We'll see how that goes. For now enjoy #5!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

 ** _*(Edit: I got Pokemon Go last night. That little thing is addicting!)_**

* * *

Chapter Five

Trolls, Orcs, and fellow Elves

 _"There stood the trolls: three large trolls. One was stooping, and the other two stood staring at him. Strider walked forward unconcernedly. ‛Get up, old stone!' he said, and broke his stick upon the stooping troll. Nothing happened."_

― J.R.R. Tolkien, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

Asuna, Lisbeth, and Leafa now found themselves walking the rest of the great east road towards the long stretch of mountains that split the map in two. They just made it past the Weather Hills on their left, and to the right the South Downs came and went. They were making a journey to the Lonely Mountain, and their next stop along the way was quickly approaching.

Here, the three elven girls decided to set up a small camp fire on the edge of a few tall forested hills. They could tell they were approaching mountains because the terrain was slowly getting rockier. They also knew these hill would be very treacherous because of the jagged boulders and rocks that they already came a crossed in the foot hills, some of which looked like statues…

Now, Asuna lies back on an old sleeping bag she and the others purchased back in Bree. They also managed to stock up on food and even purchased a few weapons, but now their provisions were running out.

"But why do we need to ration these things?" Lisbeth said as she looked at a sack of bread sitting on the other side of Asuna's lap.

Asuna kept her eyes shut. "Because when we get into the mountains, food won't be so easy to find. We can hunt and forage in forests like these all we want, but when the terrain gets worse we'll be begging for food every step of the way."

Lisbeth sort of bobbled her head. "Yea that actually makes sense…ugh fine I can go out and look for stuff!"

"Hold on I can join you." Leafa said as she was tying her new sword to her belt. "Asuna will you be alright here?"

"Yea, I'll be fine…just go on without me." She sounded very peaceful as she smiled in her pre-nap. This let Leafa and Lisbeth leave without saying another word.

Now, the other two girls were starting to pick berries, and they even kept their swords out in case they came a crossed a small animal or two.

"Man, I wish I could fish like Kazuto." Leafa moaned. "We'd be set for an adventure with fish in our bellies!"

"True that…" Lisbeth said as her stomach started to growl. "I mean at this rate I'd eat the things raw if it just meant food."

Leafa would have laughed, but her stomach started to growl too. "Oh man…you're right this is starting to get really bad."

The two girls continued to walk until they saw a tiny glimmer of light shining from over a rock. Right away Lisbeth pointed it out, and they both ran over to see what it was.

As they came over the two elves noticed loud, masculine voices coming from two beings beyond the rock. As they got closer, the two girls tip toed up to a rock, but then Leafa stepped on a very bizarre object.

It was a bone, and it looked like a human's.

"AHH….mph!" Leafa let out a cry of fear until Lisbeth grabbed her and cuffed her mouth with a hand. They then turned to look over the rock and found two very ugly creatures sitting around a camp fire.

They looked like trolls. Big, dull, stupid, but scary looking trolls. They had a large camp fire, and a small stack of bones and armor beside them. The armor looked light, and most of it looked like green cloth. They also saw three horses tied up to a tree on the far side, and right away Leafa pointed them out.

"Oh no we have to help those horses! What if they get eaten!?" She tried to convince Lisbeth on helping them out.

Lisbeth looked scared out of her mind, but she wasn't leaving. "Yea…man it would be nice to have horses for the quest too…"

Leafa looked happy to hear the cooperation, and immediately she pulled out her ring. "Hold on, I'll be right back…"

"Hey!?" Lisbeth whispered with shock. "You can't just put that thing on whenever you feel like it?!"

Leafa waved a hand. "Relax, it's a quick spell. Stay right here until you see me with the horses." She then raised her hands and recited an incantation, turning her body completely hollow and eventually invisible.

As Leafa crept along the ring of the camp fire, one of the trolls start talking.

"Oy, these little rangers were nothing! They didn't even have any meat on their bones!"

Another one laughed. "Yea? Well maybe that's because I grabbed all the fat ones!"

The first one waved a hand. " 'old on a minute these little guys were all rangers. Those types don't get no fat on their bones!" He then stood up and grabbed a club. "Unless you're not talking about rangers…"

The second one laughed again. "What? No mate Iwas joking! I only ate those damned rangers, nothing more. Hell the horses are still over by the tree." He gestured to the three horses tied up, and from the looks of things Leafa was either still safely invisible, or she wasn't over their yet.

Lisbeth held her breath as soon as the second one pointed to the horses, but sighed with relief once he turned away. "Man…just drop it Leafa we can just go back to the camp fire."

Leafa was actually slowly tip toeing her way to the horses, and with each step she tried sounding quieter and quieter as she approached the troll's encampment.

Then, she finally got to the horses, and sighed with joy. "Oh, don't worry I'll help you guys!" She reached out and put a hand on the front white on, but right then she spooked the horse and caused it to buck and kick form its place.

"AGH!" Leafa yelled out as its head reared up and knocked Leafa to the ground. Even worse, when she smacked against the ground the ring fell off, canceling her powers.

"OY WHAT THE HELL IS…!?" One of the trolls stood up, but then ran over to find a dumbfounded Leafa sitting on the ground by the horses.

"Oh what the hell _is_ this?" He repeated himself with a curious voice as he picked her up by the back of her tunic. "A she-elf? Hey Bill I think we found some more rangers!"

Leafa's heart beat faster and faster as she kicked and screamed trying to get out of his grip. "PUT ME DOWN!" She was also keeping her eye on her blue ring now on the ground next to the horses, but as the troll walked towards the fire she slowly lost sight of it.

Then the other troll laughed. "I'll say! This little munchkin ran out as soon as you yelled something!" He came over and had an equally angry Lisbeth slashing in the air with her tiny but fierce war hammer, but from her point of view it wasn't doing much good.

"Well well, I guess we just found dessert…unless you little ladies want to tell us how the hell you snuck into our camp?"

"What are you talking about?!" Leafa yelled out scratching the troll's hands.

Her captor laughed. "Hey stop with the games, Miss. I know you used some magic item to sneak in, otherwise you woulda gotten out of here safe and sound…hand over your item and we might let you leave."

"My what…?" Leafa then realized her was referring to her now missing ring, and she instantly began to panic. "No my ring is missing!" She was talking to Lisbeth with that remark, but the loud outburst ended up sealing her fate.

"Well, looks like you'll be troll food tonight!" He laughed and grabbed a long stick, and began poking the fire to get the coals nice and hotter.

Then, as Lisbeth and Leafa started shrieking with more fear, another noise came from over on one of the boulders.

"HEY! YOU GOONS WANT ONE OF THESE RINGS?"

Asuna stood with a fierce stance as she eyed the two ugly trolls with her two best friends.

The second one howled. "Okay shows over, show us any more of you little elves that are hiding out there and let's get this meal over with!"

Asuna rolled her eyes and pulled out her white ring of power. "Idiots…" She then snapped her finger and let her _Lambent Light_ return to her waist, where she then drew it from its scabbard and charged forward.

"AGH!" Asuna rallied onward to take the first troll holding Lisbeth head on. Instantly she began dishing out several painful parry attacks, and left a multitude of bloody scars around the troll's face.

"AGH IT HURTS!" He cried out with pain, and as he did his grip on Lisbeth's shirt loosened just enough to drop her to the ground, where she then turned and smacked him on the head with her war hammer.

Now with him knocked out, Lisbeth landed on the grown, and as Asuna stared the troll down, the beast started laughing

"Okay, two on one? I like it!" He then noticed Asuna was now separated from Lisbeth.

Then, she shouted. "LEAFA CATCH!"

Leafa turned from the troll's grip to see Lisbeth was tossing her ring towards her. She then grabbed it, and whipped up a swift wind spell to fling in the air. From there she landed on the troll's shoulders, and startled him long enough to allow Asuna and Lisbeth to barrel in with powerful attacks, ending the situation once and for all.

As Leafa flipped backwards she landed right beside Asuna and Lisbeth, who both put away their weapons and then took off their rings.

However, before they left the sun barely started to creep overhead, and as it did the trolls started shrieking with girlish cries.

"OH NO NOT NOW!" They both yelled out ferociously, until the first morning beam of light passed over the horizon and hit them on the head, slowly freezing their bodies and turning them into stone.

As the too pathetic beings became living statues, Asuna raised an eyebrow. "So…I could have just waited and let the sun save you two instead?"

Lisbeth and Leafa both turned and smacked Asuna softly on her arms, causing her to laugh in response as she walked towards the horses. "Alright guys, let's take your new friends here and get back on the road east."

Now Asuna, Leafa, and Lisbeth were riding with style. Three ranger horses were fully provided from their plunder of the troll camp, and three nice new sets of green ranger cloaks and light armor.

As the party crossed the hills of upland Rhudaur, they looked over a great field of rock and grass.

Lisbeth shouted up to her comrades as she could now barely see grey mountains in the far distance. "Man, those must be the Misty Mountains from the map. They look like they run for miles."

Asuna nodded as they slowed their ride down through the treacherous fields of rock. "Yea, we only need to cut right through them, but I guess they're supposed to be several thousand feet high, which could prove quite hard for traveling through."

Leafa started getting curious. "Man, I wonder what this House of Elrond is going to look like. I heard he's an elf character, so I bet it's gonna be pretty."

Lisbeth shook her head. "Maybe, but like Annatar said he hasn't added regular main characters yet, so who's to say the house will be there either."

"Yea…" Asuna would have made a better effort to reply back, but she was now looking over the northern horizon, where she saw a few mounted beings riding their way.

Leafa noticed them too, and started getting nervous. "Um, Asuna did the note say anything about finding elves on our way near Rivendell?"

Asuna never said a word as she reached in to grab the note and map, and after taking a quick rad past the "Trollshaws" part, her worst fear came to reality.

"Draw your swords."

The three ladies stuck to using their purchased Middle-Earth swords, and kept their rings off to hide their legendary weapons.

As they tried to keep moving east, Asuna noticed the mounts underneath the riders were lower to the ground than regular horses, and as they got closer she also heard them growling like beasts, and their riders were hollering fowl noises as well.

Then before they knew it a black, mangled looking arrow flew right past Leafa's bright blonde hair, which startled her horse and nearly bucked her off. The girls panicked and geared theirs horses up for a faster ride, but as they continued the pack of mysterious beings met up with them on the chase.

They looked like goblins, or something uglier. They all had grey or green skin, some even had white. Their cloths were ugly and mostly made of rags and wicked armor, and their weapons were all gnarled and horrible to look at. Finally, their beasts were not horses, but something far worse. These wolf-like monsters began snapping at the girl's new horses, and right away Asuna tried to extend her new long sword out to battle an approaching foe.

"ELF SCUM!" One of the creatures yelled as his sharpened sword clashed with Asuna's, and as it hit a second time Asuna picked up an advantage and sliced him in the neck, knocking him from his now confused wolf. She then sped up, but kept an eye on her two friends."

Despite her worry, and the menacing foes to their left the other two girls didn't seem to be too afraid. Lisbeth smacked one with a store-bought steel mace and smacked him well. He hit the ground harder than a sack of potatoes. Leafa also gave one a good stab with her sharp new blade of steel, and then they managed to catch up to Asuna in an attempt to lose the other beasts.

As they got closer and closer to the mountains, the girls started noticing more and more goblin creatures following them from behind. This made them get slightly nervous as they had no idea how they could keep riding fast in the rocky foot hills to come.

"CRAP!" Lisbeth yelled. "WE CAN'T KEEP THIS UP FOREVER!"

"YOU'RE RIGHT!" Asuna agreed, and slowed her horse down to a halt. "WHICH IS WHY WE'RE TURNING TO FIGHT!"

"WHAT!?" Leafa slowed her horse down too, but not by choice. As a result Lisbeth did as well.

Both followers looked to see Asuna ready for battle, with her new sword in hand and fire in her eyes as the ten remaining goblins came in for attack.

"Eh…fine!" Leafa finally followed suit, which made Lisbeth join in as well. Now all three girls were ready to do battle, and as they stood in wait with their horses the goblins started laughing.

Then the goblins eyes widened. Then they started screaming in fear and slowing down in an attempt to retreat. Then they had to quickly dodge several swift steel arrows that flew past the three girl's heads from behind.

Finally as the goblins finally made their escape, the three traveling girls looked awe struck and had no idea what to expect when they turned around, until a voice followed up.

"My good ladies, are any of you hurt?" He then kept looking at the fleeing beasts as they ran off. "Filthy orcs…"

Asuna held a breath, and turned her steed around to find a troop of heavily armored elves in solid gold plating mounted and ready for battle behind her and the others. Some had magnificent swords of curved steel, while others had equally as impressive bows.

Then, Asuna spoke up. "Y-yes, we're all fine…um you all wouldn't happen to be from the Rivendell would you?"

After several long moments of horse back and conversations the elven troop finally made it to their sought after destination. Rivendell appeared to be located at the edge of a narrow gorge of a body of water known as the Bruinen River. It also appeared to be well hidden in the moorlands and foothills of the tall Misty Mountains to the near east, which were now much larger up close.

However, the three girls were not looking at any of the far landscape while they road in. If they had seen any beautiful sunsets during their time in Middle-Earth, they were easily forgotten as soon as they laid eyes on the House of Elrond. The design was stunning, the valley was gorgeous, and the way the sun captured it all was absolutely breathtaking.

All of the three lady elves were speechless as they road into their new destination, awaiting council from a player that quite possibly might not even be in the game. However they kept their hopes high and tried counting on at least some important NPC to show them the way.

Once the party of elves found their way to the footsteps of the house, they all dismounted their horses and let stable hands take the reins. Afterword's Asuna went over to the captain. "Thank you for escorting us into Rivendell."

The man smiled and bowed in return. "It was no trouble at all, and may I and my kinsmen welcome you three fair young ladies into the Valley of Imladris, home of Rivendell and the House of Elrond."

Lisbeth started playing with her short pink bangs. "We-hell aren't you guys sweet….dear god am I trying to flirt with a video game character?"

Leafa giggled and waved her hand. "Ah it's no big deal, and actually I don't blame you…they're all pretty easy to look at."

Asuna laughed but kicked her leg back to shut the two girls up. Then, they all followed the elven NPCs into the house ahead.

"I am pleased to see you ladies made it safely all the way from the Shire. That section of the road isn't too dangerous, but for newcomers it can be quite the load to handle."

Asuna nodded. "Yes we had our fair share of hard times…but now we're back on track!" She then pulled out the map and note. "Alright I can't believe I'm about to do this with an NPC…but do any of you by chance know how we could get to the Lonely Mountain from here?"

"Oh no…" The captain looked startled for a moment and gestured up an extra flight of stairs indoors. "That question is for our lord."

The girls looked totally lost for a moment as they followed his finger, and right then a very fair and tall male elf marched down the stepped dawning a very elaborate robe and crown.

"My ladies, it is my honor to introduce, Lord Elrond, protector of the Valley of Imladris."

The captain looked pleased with the introduction he delivered, but Asuna was left in pure shock as the man looked familiar… _very_ familiar.

"Well, I must be the first to admit it is very odd to find you here, Asuna Yuuki."

Leafa and Lisbeth looked blown away as they realized this man recognized their best friend, but the weirder thing to handle was Asuna's reaction in return.

She was dumbfounded to say the least. He was tall, and handsome alright…and he wore a very neat but long head of silver/greyish hair, and a very smug grin.

"C…C-Commander _Heathcliff_?"

Finally, the man known as "Elrond" continued smirking with self-pride.

"Oh come now…you can just refer to me as _Akihiko Kayaba_."

* * *

 _ **Whaaaaa...?**_

 **So just like the time he paid Kirito a visit at the end of the Fairy Dance Arc, it appears that Kayaba has transferred his memory into this game through the Seed system somehow, and now he's taken up the name "Elrond." Did he do it on his own, or did Annatar put him here? Maybe he'll have some answers either way.**

 **Anyway we'll try to find the rest of the cast tomorrow (Klein, Silica, Sinon, those guys) so the story moves on! Also I usually try to ask this from all my audiences but if any of you have a story of your own that you think I would like, do not hesitate to share it! I try to visit most of the follower's pages to see their work, but sometimes I lose track. I'm always looking for more stories on here to read!**

 **Until then comment and review like always!**


	6. 6: The Lord, the Wizard, & the Dwarves?

**Author's Note: Hello! Here's chapter 6! I had to fix a little more than usual in my edits, and I had a busy last 24 hours. I took an exam for my master's in education program and passed, so that's good! Also I'm now addicted to Pokemon Go...if anyone wants to know I'm Team Red.**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings_.**

* * *

Chapter Six

The Lord, The Wizard...and the Dwarves?

 _"A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to."_

― Gandalf, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

Commander Heathcliff, or Akihiko Kayaba as he was known as in the real world was standing before the three elven girls in the virtual flesh. The man who created _Sword Art Online_ , the Cardinal System, and the World Seed was standing before them as an impersonation of Lord Elrond of Rivendell.

But how was he doing this…and more importantly _why_?

Asuna looked like she was about to fall over, and Lisbeth even trembled a bit when she heard his real name. Leafa knew who it was, but the name had less of an impact on her since she never experienced SAO for herself.

However, Asuna was not satisfied with anything that stood before her eyes. "Commander…what are you doing here?"

Heathcliff laughed. "Oh come now, I'd almost prefer it if you called me Kayaba, or even Elrond would do it at this point. Sure I am using the Heathcliff avatar from SAO, but alas, this is not SAO."

He then held a hand to his heart. "And no…if you are wondering I am not alive. I am merely stored data within the World Seed, nothing more than my memory and my avatar exists anymore."

Asuna was still a little shaken, but Lisbeth decided to finish the conversation for her. "Alright Kayaba spill it, why are you helping Annatar with his new game?"

Kayaba almost looked insulted, but he only kept his face at a minimal frown. "I apologize, but I'm not in this world to help Annatar. I joined this world to help Kazuto Kirigaya."

"Wha…?" Leafa started to look more invested in Kayaba's existence. "Are y-you saying you know where he is?"

Kayaba sighed and held his hands behind his back as he turned towards the setting sun over the Valley of Imladris. "Ladies, we need to finish this discussion indoors. I'm afraid it might take a while to brief you on everything I know."

Now, Kayaba and the others were all inside a luxurious balcony dining room that over looked the river valley.

Kayaba took a drink of wine and set his glass down before explaining everything. He then pulled out a paper map of Middle-Earth and unfolded it onto the table.

"First and foremost…I do not know where Kirito is currently residing. In both the real and virtual worlds his current location is as much of a mystery to me as it is to you…" He then noticed that bit of information seemed to let the table of girls down.

Kayaba continued. "But I did speak with him briefly, when he and the other party members from before passed through Rivendell. There were 10 in total. Klint Rojer, the party leader, and the 9 volunteers, one of which was Kirito. Unlike the three of you who were brought in as elves, these nine players were brought in as men. It seems Klint and Annatar want to test out all the factions separately. I assume they'll try bringing in a group of players to act as Dwarves or Hobbits next…"

Lisbeth rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but we really don't care about any of that. We just want to know where…"

Asuna reached out and grabbed Lisbeth's hand. "Shh…let him finish."

Kayaba nodded at both Asuna and Lisbeth before he carried on. "Again. I apologize if I am lacking in any information that you may seek, but I at least hope to provide you with some clarity going forward on your quest. You girls are going to slay the Dragon _Smaug the Golden_ under the Lonely Mountain, _Erebor_."

"DRAGON!?" Leafa and Lisbeth both slammed their hands on the table and looked completely lost.

Lisbeth then continued. "Great, that last ALO boss was a dragon, and it took like 40 of us to beat him!"

Kayaba nodded. "Yes, he will be quite the formidable opponent. I would assume Kirito and his party fought him at least once, but I am not entirely sure how their outcome came to an end."

Asuna nodded back. "Yes, Annatar told us they beat him, and now Kirito and the others are waiting in the real Lord of the Rings game."

"I imagined that much…" Kayaba admitted. "This Hobbit chapter, it only acts as the game's demo, and even so it appears to be a very challenging game. The real threat however, is the game of war and conquest that awaits those who finish it."

"War and conquest?" Leafa said nervously in response.

"Yes, but that is information I myself do not possess. Which reminds me…you all will need a better guide to get you through the rest of the game."

He then waved at one of his servant NPCs to deliver a shiny wooden box, and as he did Kayaba grabbed it and laid it out in front of Asuna.

"This item was originally supposed to be a regular quest item, and it was actually won by Kirito during his route through these lands. However it seems that Kirito merged an item of his own with it and asked that it be kept here with me in case any of you came in to follow him."

Asuna's lips started trembling. "H-he…he knew we'd come looking for him?"

Kayaba made no answer, and simply gestured towards the box.

Leafa and Lisbeth sat up in their seats with anticipation as Asuna slowly put her hands on the lid, opening it up and looking inside to reveal its hidden treasure.

The item tagged read "Evenstar" and it appeared to be unique treasure in this world. It was a gorgeous necklace with a shiny white gem set on a silver "eagle-shaped" brooch. It almost looked like it had the light of the Sun within it and those who looked through it saw everything that was aged and withered as young once more.

"I-I don't get it…you're telling me Kirito fused an item with it?"

Kayaba nodded. "Pick it up and examine it for yourself…"

Asuna looked back to the necklace and picked it up out of the box, and as soon as she lifted it into the free air it glowed brighter than before, and suddenly a flash of white light came from the top and revealed a tiny little black haired female figure dressed in a gown of white.

"uh…mom…mommy?"

Asuna almost dropped the necklace from her hands as she raised one of her hands to her mouth, trying to hold back the tears.

"Yu…Yui?"

Yui, the tiny navigation pixie from ALO, and the psychological AI from SAO awoke as a hologram figurine atop the necklace's center gem. She rubbed her eyes for a moment before opening them wider to see Asuna looking down at her.

"Mommy…MOMMY! IT IS YOU MOMMY!" Despite being a hologram-type image, Yui flew up and grabbed Asuna by the face, hugging her like she would in ALO.

Asuna finally let the tears fall, and as she did so did Lisbeth and Leafa, who took a tiny moment to enjoy the heartwarming moment before hem.

Asuna then spoke up. "Yui, where's daddy? Do you know where Kirito is?"

Yui hesitated for a moment and then looked very sad with herself. She then shook her head. "N-no…daddy gave me up when he met me here…I don't know where he went after that…"

She then started to cry herself. "Mommy…daddy was…he was…"

"What Yui? What happened with Daddy?"

"Daddy was…he was…" Yui tried to spit up the information, but after a short moment of crying her spirit disappeared back inside the Evenstar.

Asuna raised her head and looked to Kayaba for an explanation.

"She did the same thing to me." He told her. "I've tried earning more information from her but I've had no luck in the process."

Asuna looked heart broken, and as such Leafa looked to Kayaba. "So how were Kirito and the others when you ran into them? Did they seem normal?"

Kayaba sighed. "Strangely enough they did. Which makes little Yui's worrying that much more frustrating to me. Kirito and I spoke very briefly while he was here. He didn't want the other players to recognize me, otherwise he was worried my presence would startle them."

Kayaba then leaned over the table and placed his elbows on the surface wood. "There's something else as well…the three of you are being followed."

All three girls, including a now recovering Asuna all looked up. Right away Lisbeth spoke first. "Is that why those goblin guys were chasing us into the mountains?"

Kayaba shook his head. "No, but to be honest orcs like that should not have been this far down from the north end of the Misty Mountains. Sadly I'm afraid that is a mystery we'll have to solve later. You are not being pursued by the followers, but they are in a way following your footsteps."

Asuna wiped the last tear from her eye. "I get it. You're saying more players have entered the game."

Kayaba nodded. "Yes, though it appears this group of people was not right out of the gate like you all were. I have had reports that these players have spent a long time on the far western side of the map, gaining experience and all they can to catch up to the quest…"

As Akihiko Kayaba explains the nature of this new group, we will actually travel back to one in-game night before this to see them for ourselves.

* * *

 _~One night prior, in the town of Yggdrasil, ALO_

"Oh man! Now we've lost Asuna and the others!?" Klein started panicking as he and Agil were making their way towards the teleport gait of ALO, in hopes of finding more clues on MEO.

Agil nodded. "Yea I'm afraid so. Man this stinks…we should have kept some chat going to see where everyone was heading off to."

Klein kicked a lose pebble inside the stone halls of Yggdrasil. "Yea, well too late for that now…man I wonder if they already found the entrance into the game. Oh don't tell me they're getting first dibs on all the good loot!"

Agil started laughing. "What are you talking about man?"

Klein shrugged. "What? It's not like Kirito's stuck in ALO. This is a whole new game we'll get to explore! The least I can do is have a little fun for the guy while I try saving his…"

He stopped talking as he looked ahead in a heavy crowd of people, but as they all blended together, Klein clearly recognized two very familiar Cat Sí warrior women sitting patiently on the ground.

"No shit, it's Sinon and Silica!" Klein started running forward, and with Agil right behind him they finally made it to their missing counterparts.

Sinon kept leaning on one of her hands with her legs crossed together, but Silica quickly raised her head to see Klein and Agil running towards them. "Oh guys we were wondering where you went off to!"

"US?!" Klein yelled in shock. "Silica we haven't heard from any of you girls for the past day!"

Agil nodded but looked around in worry. "Right, where's Asuna? And the others?"

Sinon still looked pretty disappointed with herself. "She and the other two got invited to play MEO."

Klein started chuckling. "Wow, were you two too bad to get invited or…?"

Sinon looked angry to hear that comment, and as she remained sitting she drew her bow and powerful light arrows and aimed one right at his face.

Klein held his breath. "Man, I know this is a safe zone, but that thing is still terrifying!"

Sinon sighed and took the bow down, and then stood up. "They ran into some creep named Annatar. He's the creator of MEO, and he took them in to complete Kirito's quest or something…"

Agil looked puzzled, but before he could say anything a beam of light formed right behind Silica and Sinon.

Silica looked worried. "Oh wait, this is it…I think…?"

As the blue portal suddenly materialized from thin air, a tall elf warrior stepped out and into the city.

He was not a Sylph like Annatar, nor was he an Imp like Klint. This man was an Undine, and he looked very well-equipped for playing ALO.

Also, Klein and Silica recognized him. His appearance was mainly surrounded in a long but moderate blue robe. He also wore his Undine-blue hair like a normal avatar, but he also had a thin pair of glasses covering his blue eyes.

Finally, he had a satisfied grin on his face, and the name Chrysheight hovered over his head.

Klein quickly spoke up. "No way…you're that Chrysheight guy from the government!"

The man laughed, and nodded. "Actually you may stick to calling me _Seijirou_ _Kikuoka_."

"Seijirou…?" Sinon was distracted by some group of people off in the near distance, but now she recognized him too. He was the same man that de-briefed her and Kirito after the Battle of Bullets tournament in GGO.

Seijirou raised his hands. "Yes, it's me. You all know me as an acquaintance of Kazuto's, and you also know Asuna sent for me after he went missing last week."

Agil raised an eyebrow. "That's right, so now that we have you. Do you have anything to tell us?"

Seijirou's smiled quickly turned into a troubled frown. "Unfortunately I do not. I have been lurking inside MEO for the entire week, but I have had a rough time keeping track of Kazuto and his other 9 counterparts…" He then turned around.

"…I'm also inside the game with the authority of the GM. You know him as…?"

Silica waved her hands in the air. "Um sorry! But _we_ haven't even been inside the game yet!"

Seijirou stopped his current thought and patted himself on the forehead. "Oh I apologize, you're right. In fact that's the very reason I came here to collect you…I'm bringing all of you with me into MEO as the next round of testers."

Klein jumped in the air and grinned. "HA! No shit? Man this day isn't as bad as I thought!"

Agil and Silica rolled their eyes, but Sinon kept her head turned back at the group of people in the far distance.

Seijiro shrugged. "Well what can I say, I like to help those who are friends with Kazuto." He then re-faced the air that sent him through space just a minute ago, and right then he held up a large, rectangular crystal box that was outline in gold.

However, before he made any movements, Seijirou turned and counted the number in the party. "O-oh…I'm sorry I can't go unless there are five of you. The game is actually requesting 7, but two men went in earlier to fit the parameters."

Agil and Klein looked at one another, and then they both looked to Silica.

Silica started looking flustered and stomped her foot. "What do you think I have some random friend I can call up and join us!?"

"No…" Klein scratched his head. "But I'm wondering if we get that dragon a people-size costum…"

As the three other started fighting, Sinon kept her eyes on that crowd of people, but now they appeared to be very close to her and the others.

Even weirder, the people weren't even saying a word. In fact they weren't even moving.

"AGH!"

Sinon yelled out and fired a purple arrow through the people, and instantly they all turned into vaporized clouds.

Klein freaked out. "SINON!? We're still in a safe zone!"

The Cat Sí archer nodded. "I know…that arrow nullifies certain types of magic…like _concealment_ magic."

Standing in the same place as the fake crowd was the cowering little Sylph warrior, and classroom friend of Suguha, Recon.

Recon trembled with fear and held his hands up in defense. "I-I'm s-so sorry! I knew that fake-crowd spell was out of my league…"

Klein stepped up and grabbed him by the collar. "Okay why were you trying to hide then?"

Recon looked like he was in fear for his life. "I-I just wanted t-to see if Leafa and the others were going to get out…" He then tried standing up. "I-I guess Kirito is missing…that's a real bummer."

Klein raised an eyebrow and set him down. "Yea? Well what's it to you small fry?"

Recon got angry and pulled out a dagger. "HEY I FOUGHT IN THE SAME PARTY AS KIRITO ONCE YA KNOW!?"

Before things could get hostile, Agil picked the dagger out of Recon's hands and flipped it back around to the handle. He then handed it back to its owner.

"Okay little man, you can be our 5th, but you gotta chill when we go into the game, alright?"

Recon hesitated for a moment before nodded. "Alright…alright I'm in!"

Seijirou looked satisfied and clapped his hands. "Splendid! Let us journey to the land of Middle-Earth."

Then with a snap of his fingers, he and the other quickly made it through the portal without alerting a single other player inside ALO.

* * *

 _~Several moments later, after picking the only optional race_

Klein, Agil, Silica, Sinon, and Recon all landed in the dry dusty roads of Hobbiton, and once again they all looked crazily around the hills and holes as far as the eye could see.

Right away Silica looked around frantically and sighed. "Awe man….I guess Pina has to stay in ALO. Oh well I guess it's probably for the…" She then stopped her train of thought and began sightseeing like her fellow companions.

Agil took in a deep breath and laughed. "Man, I'm in Middle-Earth. This is pretty cool!"

Silica looked up at him. "Do you know what this game is, Agil?"

The tall bartender from Tokyo howled. "Of course! Man I grew up watching these movies! I love all that action and adventure. I' not good with the names or stories and stuff, but the action was pretty good…ahh. It was only a matter of time before NervGear got their hands on the series!"

"Well, maybe you can be the one to debrief your fellow companions."

Agil and the others turned to the door of Bag End, and from it emerged Seijirou with his epitaph Chrysheight floating above his head. However, his avatar was now stranger than before.

His cloak was still blue, but it looked older and slighter more rugged. He also had similar hair from before, but it looked a little more withered. Finally, he now had a large, light blue pointy wizard hat, and a brown twisted staff with a bright blue crystal hiding in the top.

Right away, Chrysheight grinned with sarcastic self-admiration. "I forgot to mention, in here you'll have to refer to me as _Chrysheight the Blue_."

Agil and Klein laughed, but the other three weren't very impressed. As a result Chrysheight kept his introduction trim and to the point.

"Very well. You five will become the third wave who attempts to clear the demo tutorial. From here you will journey from the Shire, far over the Misty Mountains…"

Agil finished it for him. "Yea, yea…over the Mistys, through Mirkwood, out by Lake Town and on to the Lonely Mountain. Smaug the Dragon's waitin' for us, and we have to kill him and I assume unlock the next game?"

Everyone looked awestruck and turned to watch Agil finish that sentence.

Chrysheight even let out a laugh. "Well, you certainly know more than everyone else who came in before you…anyway he's right. The demo follows Tolkien's _Hobbit_ pretty well, but the world is free roam, so you may stray from the path and wonder off on your own accord."

"Hold on…" Silica pointed out, now looking at all their even shorter stature. "Are we… _Dwarves_?"

She was right. 5 players dressed as tiny little Dwarves. Silica and Sinon were luckily spared the beards, and Agil's was kept nice and trim, but Klein and Recon both had mixed feelings about their new designs.

"Haha this is hilarious! I remember watching those Hobbit movies when I was younger Good action!" He then combed his medium length orange beard. "This isn't that bad either…"

"AGH!" Recon was panicking over his (very tiny) light green beard under is short chin. "I look ridiculous! And this hair is getting really itchy."

Chrysheight raised his hands before they started getting confused. "Apologies but you'll have to bare through it. The creator was insistent that the first batch of characters be 9 men, 3 elves, and 7 dwarves. As I said two others who volunteered as dwarves came in earlier, but they met with Annatar."

Agil started scratching his chin. "Hmm…man I don't like those numbers. I remember there being something pretty important in the beginning of the first movie about this. But it's been so long since I've seen those ones…

Sinon then raised an eyebrow. "Hang on. If we have to be dwarves…then why do you get to be a wizard?"

"AGH!" Chrysheight started to take a breath. "Well…my organization got my account into the game as a fake new employee, specifically for my undercover work. Therefore they had parameters to…"

All the 5 dwarves were now looking at him, until he finally let out another laugh.

"Very well…I'm glad you reminded me…my team out in Tokyo found a way to break the lock making players only chose one race. We were starting to get suspicious as to why Annatar was demanding everyone be a certain race. Therefore we wanted there to be an option after playing to change your skin…" He then pulled up a virtual menu with his left hand, symbolizing all their names.

"…However if you were to choose a race prior to entering the game we had no idea what would happen, it could have even teleported you to that race's home region and not the Shire. Also the regular demo is supposed to only allow you to change race once you've beaten the demo, but enough about that…" He then swiped up and checked all their names on the list.

"There. I've given you all the privilege to change your race, but you can only change it here and now. Once you leave the Shire, and the first quest log updates, you're stuck with what you have, even after you've beaten the demo."

"Fine." Sinon passively agreed and swiped through the options. She then picked out a very fair elf with the same dark brown hair as hers in the real world, and it also had a dark forest green outfit with black and red shooting sleeves and brown beginner's bow behind its back.

Chrysheight raised an eyebrow. "Ah, the Woodland Realm. Very nice choice…anyone else?"

Klein was already on it. "Oh these cloaks look bad ass! Yea, I'll be a Ranger!" He then picked out his option and instantly his race was changed from dwarf to man, only instead of the standard green cloak in the picture, Klein still wore a dark maroon color.

Agil raised his one hand and spun around his beginner's axe with the other. "Man, I don't know why you guys are changing? I can totally stick with being a dwarf! These guys are master craftsmen!" Although he remained the same size as his normal body, his cloths ended up resembling blue dwarven attire in the Middle-Earth.

Chrysheight then raised a hand. "Oh, and you weren't supposed to have weapons either…but I couldn't find anything else lying around this town so I let you guys have those." He knew normal players received the magical rings, but without Annatar here to deliver them, this group of five was spared the _temptation._

Klein smiled and pointed at a few passing hobbits. "Okay, Silica, Recon, you guys can pick the hobbits now!"

"HEY!" Silica put her foot down, while Recon sighed.

"Okay…" He held his head down, and quickly chose the nimble little Halfling from the Shire realm as his new race of choice. His hair remained green, but his ALO ears appeared to be smaller now, and his beard was totally gone.

Silica on the other hand was cycling though her choices just to spite Klein. She was passing through the "men" options when one very unpredictable choice caught her eye.

"Hmm…the horse lords of the Riddermark…here it says these guys are known to be some of the best animal tamers in the Middle-Earth!"

Silica kept her arms crossed while the transformation finished up, and as it did her new chain armor was light but fierce, and the brown/liver color of her hauberk aligned with her makeshift gold plate armor made her look like a true horse lord.

Agil clapped his hands. "Damn, Silica the Rohirrim! I like it!"

Silica also liked the sound of that. "Yea, I'm gonna tame the best horse in the game, and then I'll find Kirito and the others!"

Chrysheight nodded. "Sounds like a good plan." He then turned and walked a little down the road.

"Very well, I leave the rest to you. You may follow the path of Asuna and the others east, or you may stop and explore the realms of Middle-Earth on your own accord first. I will note nothing below the southernmost parallel of the Misty Mountains is able to be accessed until Smaug has been slayed, but until then you have thee entire north to yourselves. I'll rejoin you closer to Rivendell."

Then, with a flash of blue light, Chrysheight the Blue was gone in an instant.

Right away Sinon was adjusting her new bow, and to test its power, she pulled back on the draw string and gave it a quick dry fire. "So…any idea where to go next?"

Klein mulled it over, and then dusted off his hands. "Psh! I dunno about you guys, but I'm gonna roam around these hills and look for other rangers! Maybe I can gather an army to help Asuna and the others!" Then, he too began walking down the eastern road.

Silica sighed, and Recon began pointing at Klein. "Okay if he goes out what are we gonna do?"

Finally, Agil looked stuck in thought for a moment, but quickly broke it to answer. "U-um, I guess we can do what the wizard suggested. Ya know go around and collect stuff?"

As the other three began to discuss the options before them, Agil was left with one lasting thought.

 _"_ _9 men, 3 elves, and 7 dwarves…I can't remember, but there's definitely something going on here with those three numbers."_

* * *

 **Okay so this chapter had a lot going on. Kayaba was practically useless, just a friendlier Annatar. He did give Asuna the Elfstar, and now she has Yui!**

 **Also the other guys are in the game, but they weren't brought in by Annatar, they were brought in by Seijirou/Chrysheight. He also never gave them their rings, so will they be spared? AND...there are already 2 more people in the game with dwarven rings!**

 **But luckily Seijirou hacked it a bit to let this group change their class (he's also going to be my Gandalf lol). I thought it'd be funny to force the others to be elves and men, and then to let Sinon and those guys pick who they want. In the end I really liked how I paired them all!**

 **Anyway that's chapter 6! It's Friday, so I'm gonna take a break and not upload anything for the weekend. I'm gonna try and keep it one chapter a day Mon-Fri, and breaks on weekends. We'll see how that goes.**

 **Until then!**


	7. 7: The Misty Mountains Cold

**Author's Note: Welcome back! Hope the weekend went well for everyone! Anyway here's chapter 7!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Seven

The Misty Mountains Cold

" _Greatest of all the mansions of the Dwarves was Khazad-dûm, the Dwarrowdelf, Hadhodrond in the Elvish tongue, that was afterwards in the days of its darkness called Moria._ "

― J.R.R. Tolkien, _The Silmarillion_

* * *

The winds were howling, and the temperature was quickly dropping with every foot of elevation heading into the air. The vegetation around the foothills was slowly turning into barren rock, and all signs of animal life were quickly fading as the party of three female elves ventured into their next leg of the quest, the _Misty Mountains_.

Taller than most everything in the land of Middle-Earth, the Misty Mountains acted as the spine of the continent. At the top, Mount Gundabad reigned as the first peak in the north, and towards the southern end as you reached the Gap of Rohan, the peak of Methedras stood as the lone tower of rock standing dormant in the south.

Here, we now find three heavily cloaked elven females hiking along a narrow cliff pass down through the western edge of the mountains. They're look for any signs of ancient pathways that could possibly lead them over or under the mountains.

"W-well…It's of-ficially c-cold…" Lisbeth said as she curled up next to their makeshift fire for the night to come. They placed a small camp site underneath a few trees and boulders, and even in the sheltered location the mists and winds from the mountain air made it an unbearable experience.

Asuna nodded, but also kept her body reserved in a small ball of warmth. "Y-yea…this is almost t-too much for m-me…"

Leafa tried igniting a larger camp fire with the magic of her ring, but it failed to progress with the howling cave winds. "T-this is g-getting nowhere…do we have any food lef-ft?"

Asuna shook with cold as she whipped up her cloak and reached out to grab the nearest bag, which she hoped to be the bag containing all the food and water. She finally grabbed the bag, and reached inside to grab three pieces of thin, crispy bread that were all wrapped up in elven leaves.

"H-here…this is all rationed so make the most out of this batch…" She said reluctantly as she wished they had more food to eat.

Lisbeth went to reach out, but finally shouted out with frustration. "AGH! SCREW THIS!" She then swiped open her menu and went to touch the logout button. "I'm going over town to eat in Tokyo, we're it's _actually_ sunny and springtime. If you all want to join me then…"

Asuna shook her head. "Lisbeth…we just logged on less than an hour ago. We promised we'd use as little time as possible in the real world to try and get Kirito back as soon as we could."

Leafa agreed. "Y-yea, it's bad enough we barely missed spring break by a week, but any time out of school needs to be spent in here looking for Kirito."

"Yea…I get ya." Lisbeth sighed, and finally took a piece of bread. "So do we have any preference on how to pass the mountains?"

Asuna pulled out her map. "Well the story is supposed to pass through a region up north, but Kayaba was worried about all those northern orc creatures, so he told us to try and use a different route."

Lisbeth understood. "Yea, but my point was there are 2 ways we can take…according to Kayaba."

Lisbeth was right on this. In reality there were actually more than 2 ways to deal with the Misty Mountains. The mountain chain was also equipped with several gaps and passes, including the two famous routes supposedly suggested by Kayaba.

The first was the High Pass in the north-central peaks, near the Valley of Imladris, and just above the caves of Goblin Town. The other was known as the Redhorn Pass, and this route took you through three very high mountains in the south-central range; the Caradhras, Celebdil, and Fanuidhol.

However, these peaks did not lie atop some dingy city full of goblins and other fell beasts, these peaks stood atop a legendary city of Dwarven Lords, the Kingdom of Khazad-Dûm.

Lisbeth knew this from Kayaba's brief explanation, and the thought of these large fabled halls excited her beyond belief. "Ya know, I hear the dwarves are a lot like Leprechauns in ALO. They're really big with smithing and mining, and they know all sorts of design techniques."

Leafa smiled. "That sounds awesome. It also sounds to me like you would have been better off as a dwarf class?"

Lisbeth shrugged. "Eh, I can't say dwarves sound very cool. I mean I bet elves have some pretty cool smiths too."

"Yea…" Asuna barely hung onto the conversation, but that last bit made her remember a final conversation she and the girls held with Kayaba before leaving the valley.

 _~A day before, in the House of Rivendell._

 _"_ _Also, there's one more thing I must tell you before you leave for Erebor…It involves your rings."_

 _The three girls sat around the table and nervously clutched the three ring bands they now held comfortably around their fingers._

 _Kayaba sighed. "I have little information to tell you, but I have a feeling those rings are not meant to be used lightly."_

 _Lisbeth rolled her eyes. "Yea, we figured that much. Any idea what their purpose is?"_

 _Kayaba leaned forward and prompt his elbows on the table. "I have a few theories, but one in almost perfect. In the stories of the Lord of the Rings, a dark lord uses rings of power to deceive rulers of Middle-Earth into gaining his trust, and as a result he bestows them with these rings to ensure ultimate power and dominion over their lands. However, he eventually uses these rings against them in some sort of malevolent fashion."_

 _"_ _Crap!" Leafa immediately took hers off. "What if Annatar is tricking all of us with them!?"_

 _Asuna and Lisbeth took theirs off as well, but Asuna looked a bit more lost in thought. "That would be too obvious wouldn't it? I mean how lucky would Annatar have to be to get 3 girls and 9 guys to fall for his trick, all of which have never seen the movies or read the books. From the sounds of things all's you'd have to know is the plot of the story, and then you'd know his secrets...It's actually one thing that's kept me hesitant from logging off and doing a bit of my own research at home."_

 _Kayaba nodded. "Yes, and I have a select bit of knowledge myself, but for some strange reason…my memory on the subject will not go any further. It's almost as if a large size of my memory regarding these rings has been completely wiped form the server."_

 _He then raised his head. "Which is why…you would be better off destroying the rings you have now."_

 _~Back to the present_

The three girls sat in silence as their tiny camp fire blazed through the night. Then Asuna spoke up. "Do you think we can destroy these rings by ourselves?"

Lisbeth played with hers and look past it to see the fire. "I'm not sure…but we can at least ditch them, or just leave them in our pockets."

Leafa sighed. "Yea…it'd be nice to keep the buffs. Or at least keep our weapons."

Then Asuna raised her head, and after that she swiftly stood up and placed the ring back on her finger.

"What are you doing?" Lisbeth said with an awkward expression as Asuna proceeded to equip her ring, and then draw _Lambent Light_ from its sheath. She then held it in mid-air for a second before tossing it over to Lisbeth, who frantically screamed as she grabbed the thin handle.

Then Asuna smiled. "Look. It has its own item tag, and name, and stat bar…and _I_ don't have to be the one holding it."

"Uh…?" Lisbeth began scratching her head before Asuna explained.

"You're smithing is maxed out in both SAO and ALO, so it's safe to say that data made it over to MEO too…Melt down our swords and re-forge them with your own skill."

"…" Lisbeth's eyes turned three times their normal size before she stood up in a frantic state of panic. "YOU WANT ME TO DO _WHAT!?_ "

Leafa stood too, only her face was now lit up by a smile. "Hey that's a great idea! You can just save our weapons, then we can ditch the rings!"

Lisbeth shook her head. "Whoa I don't know if it works that way. Plus Leafa your bulk power in your ring comes in the form of magic?"

Leafa shrugged. "Eh I can learn new spells, but I really do like my ALO sword."

Asuna nodded and held out a hand. "Exactly, and if we have any chance of saving our favorite weapons, then it looks like our favorite blacksmith will have to save them for us."

Lisbeth stood for a small moment as Leafa and Asuna both held hands of support out in front of her. Then, she held up a smiling head and handed Asuna her weapon, and grabbed their two opens hands in the process.

"Well I guess I can try…but we'll have to go to a pretty big dwarven forge to do it."

"Funny you should say that…" Asuna then smiled with a proud expression and slammed the open map down on a nearby rock. She then landed her finger right over the words "Moria" and "Khazad Dûm."

Now, several moments later, and nearly with the rising sun of dawn, the three girls finally made it to the foot of the first mountain of the Redhorn Pass, the peak known as Caradhras.

However, instead of following the path further up the mountain, the party made their way along a thin stretch of water, and ancient ruins as they looked in search of any signs of caves or doors into the depths below the surface. Here, they came a crossed a very clear opening beside the wall of the closest mountain, which left a very nice area between it and the lake to the back.

Asuna traced the walls and tried following any suspicious cracks she could find. "I guess these dwarf doors are supposed to be really hard to find."

Lisbeth moaned with sorrow in the back. "Yea, and I guess they're only supposed to open to moon and star light also…" She then looked up, and saw the stars and moon quickly fading over the western horizon, signifying the night was quickly coming to an end.

Then, before things got to depressing, Leafa looked past her friends and pointed out a glowing symbol on the wall. "LOOK!"

The object was fashioned as two flush doors, the jambs to each side were invisible to the eye, and they matched so perfectly with the mountain rock that at first glance the doors could not be seen. The slabs of the surface were made out of a grey material which could only be seen in starlight and moonlight, just as Lisbeth explained.

However, now clearly visible, the fine silver-like inlay of a pure white light showed a hammer and anvil, a crown with seven stars, two trees surmounted by crescent moons, and a single star. Finally, there appeared to be two letters on the top corners. One was a "C" in the left, and the other an "N" on the right.

Above it all read an ancient inscription on the archivolt. However, the three girls had no idea what any of it meant. That is until Asuna read a note given to her by Akihiko Kayaba.

"Ennyn Durin…Aran Moria. Pedo…" She appeared to have trouble reading it, until she looked below his elvish writing and down at the Japanese and English texts left for her and her friends.

"The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter."

The girls stood together in silence until Lisbeth tilted her head. " _Whaaa…?"_

* * *

 _~An hour later._

The three girls had tried everything, from beating it, carving a hole around it, they even tried several words and phrases to open it, but nothing would work. Finally they all sat back to back in front of the glowing doors as the moonlight slowly left their presence.

"Man…I knew we shoulda just gone around." Lisbeth said with a tired voice.

Asuna raised an eyebrow. "Lisbeth? You were the one who really wanted to see this place?"

Lisbeth tried to muster a defense. "Yea, but I wasn't the one who said we needed to go here…I was trying not to be rude."

Leafa sighed louder than both of them in order to earn some ore quiet. "Guys, we all wanted to go here…man it'd be nice to be back at that Rivendell place. We shoulda taken more food with us when we had the chance."

Asuna shook her head. "I know, but all's they had were perishables. Fruits and vegetables. Their bread was the only thing that was said to last the journey."

Lisbeth started blacking out in a dream of breakfast. "Yea…but Leafa's right. Remember all the yummy meals we had before leaving. Oh the food was so good! I really liked all those fruits we had for our last breakfast."

Leafa licked her lips. "I agree…the apples, the grapes…oh even all the juices were tasty!"

Leafa and Lisbeth were starting to annoy Asuna, but then her stomach started growling.

Lisbeth started giggling through her tired breaths. "Hehe, see? You're hungry too…come on what food do you miss from that place."

Asuna didn't want to feed their game, but finally she sighed. "I dunno. I mean the fruit was pretty good…I really liked the _melon_."

 _*RUMBLE*_

Then, the ground started to shake all around the mountain, and right then Asuna and the others used it as a sign to stand up and prep for an earthquake or avalanche. However, as they stood in wait, they then noticed instead of seeing any signs of terrain stress, the doors to Moria were suddenly opened.

Finally, Lisbeth tilted her head. "Huh…I guess the door was hungry too?"

Asuna was also confused, and because of that she opened up her note from Kayaba once more. Scanning the words, she finally made a connection and laughed. "Speak friend and enter…Kayaba has the elven word for friend as 'Mellon.' I guess when I said 'melon' it mistook it for…Wow…we cracked the door by accident."

"Alright!" Leafa and Lisbeth suddenly got a new jolt of energy in them and high fived. Then the lake behind them started rumbling as well.

"Okay no more creepy lake!" Without a second though Lisbeth grabbed Asuna and Leafa's hands and ran inside. As soon as they did the moon sailed beneath the horizon, and as a tiny beam of sunlight hit the lake, the doors forced themselves shut.

Now, only darkness was around the halls of the mountains. Leafa muttered a spell using her ring and suddenly a light flashed from her hand.

Asuna also pulled out Yui's phial, but never tried summoning her. Lisbeth tried sticking close to both of them, but she also managed to grab a torch from the wall. Knowing she had no way of currently lighting it, she held on to the blunt metal stick for safe keeping for the remainder of their internal journey.

However, as the three girls passed through the long entrance they were also greeted by dusty of bodies of skeletons and cobwebs, which weren't very pleasant for their eyes and noses. This left them in an uncomfortable mood during the entire flight through the inner mountain lair.

The halls of Khazad-Dûm were enormous. There appeared to be giant rooms full of black emptiness and columns. Columns that were designed in very beautiful and angular fashion, and looked large enough to hold up the entire mountain above. They also noticed the rooms were so big they could possible fit in several buildings or entire towns inside the caves.

Either way, Asuna used her instincts to try and find any signs of life, or even signs of production.

They finally passed through long stretches of hallways until they came a crossed a few large doors on the northern end of the great central hall. Here, Asuna started snooping around by opening each door to observe their contents.

Leafa and Lisbeth mimicked her, and after several failed attempts to find anything helpful, Lisbeth threw open to of the largest doors by herself, revealing just what she was looking for.

"Awesome…" The ALO blacksmith said with glimmer in her eyes as she passed through the gateway into the mountain's nearest forgery. There appeared to be many different types of machines; some could be used by only one or two people, while others looked like they needed entire armies to manipulate.

However, Lisbeth walked in and found the nicest station she could find of the smaller units, and this station just so happened to be right beside the forge stove and fire pits.

Asuna and Leafa followed her in, but as they did Asuna shut the doors behind her. "Better safe than sorry…"

They then followed up behind their friend, who quickly looked eager to play with her new toys as she equipped her ring to her right index finger. Now, with her old mace and hammer on her back, she quickly picked them up and set the mace down.

"Right, I'm gonna start with _Zoringen_ since it's a hammer. I can turn it back, and then just keep it to make the others." She then pulled out an old but solid dwarven steel hammer from the forge and held it firmly in her hand. "Now…Imma need some energy to power this puppy on."

She eyed the old forge and tried to find coal or oil, and to her luck, a great big bucket of coal sat on the other side. The only thing was though, she had no way to light it up.

"Agh…" Lisbeth sighed, until Leafa noticed what she needed.

"Hold on there were torches on some of the pillars outside. I'll be right back!" Then, she left Asuna and Lisbeth to venture back out into the dark great hall for some fire.

Several moments later she came running in with a frightened sound as she slammed the doors shut behind her.

"I had to throw some light daggers to get the torch to fall…the fire stayed lit but it hit the ground pretty hard…then I heard some shuffling in the distance."

Asuna face-palmed. "Well, try learning some fire spells from Klein next time you see him." She then laughed and took the fire, and quickly handed it off to Lisbeth.

"Mhmm…" Lisbeth nodded with satisfaction and bit her tongue with her lips. She then threw in the torch fire after filling it with coal, and suddenly the old forge smoked up, and started catching o fire inside the stove.

"Eureka!" She said with sarcasm. "Alright, stand back and watch me work my…"

 _*Boom*_

Lisbeth froze for a moment as a loud drumming sound came from beyond the doors behind them. Asuna and Leafa both turned as well only to hear it growing louder and louder.

 _*Doom Doom*_

Asuna and Leafa drew their weapons, both their new elvish weapons given to them by Kayaba, and their secret weapons summoned through their rings.

Lisbeth turned back to her forge and raised her hammer. "Hold them off for just a tiny bit will ya…?"

Asuna and Leafa had no idea what "them" could possibly be, and they had no idea how many of "them" were out there.

But as the drums grew louder, so too did their bizarre sense of courage.

"Deal."

Lisbeth's mind then took over in the blink of an eye. She tuned out everything around her and everything away from her station. She constantly pulled her sacred Blacksmith's hammer in and out of the flames, and smashed it into the ancient anvil with her new dwarven hammer. Back and forth she repeated the process, only to pause from time to time by giving the fiery hammer a quick rinse in the small bucket of water beside her.

Hammering, flaming, hammering, rinsing, repeat. Back and forth she went. With a dagger or sword, or even a mace it would be three times an easier process as this. But this was a solid steel hammer she was melting down, it would not go quickly.

Then, she did it. After a few moments of fiery crackling, and even some escaped orc shrieks from behind her head, Lisbeth finally melted down her Hammer of Zoringen from the lands of SAO into a brand new object baring the same name in MEO.

The process was rigorous, because she had to not only turn the hammer back into vanilla steel, but then she had to re-craft the weapon into the legendary hammer. She then used the small moment to reveal the all-powerful truth, and as she took off her ring of ruby red, something happened.

Her new hammer flickered, but then stayed put on the anvil. Even better, her red mace from SAO disappeared as usual, proving the ring was still in effect.

"HEY GUYS! MY HAMMER WORKED!" She cried out with happiness, even though she knew they wouldn't be able to respond.

She then tried to legitimately get their attention. "HEY ASUNA! THROW ME YOUR RAPIER!"

"WHAT!?" Asuna yelled as she was in the middle of slaying three orcs at a time. "BUT I KIND OF NEED IT RIGHT NOW!"

"I KNOW!" Lisbeth tried to explain. "SO LET ME FORGE IT DOWN REAL QUICK AND GET IT OUT OF THE WAY! IT'S THE BEST ITEM I NEED TO REMAKE, AND WHO'S TO SAY I'LL GET ANOTHER CHANCE LIKE THIS!?"

Asuna stabbed _Lambent Light_ through one more foe's heart before pulling it out and giving it one last meaningful stare.

"FINE!" She tossed the sword into the fire from all the way on the other side of the room, and as she did she picked up a dwarven spear sitting on the wall and hurled it around, stabbing serval orcs right in their eyes.

"Geeze…" Lisbeth started wafting the stench away from her nose. "You couldn't have wiped the blood off first?" She then pulled it out with her gloved hands and put the flaming sword into the water.

Quickly trying to repeat the process, she at least wanted to complete the first half by turning into forged steel, just to see if it breaks the curse from the ring.

Smashing it down into nothing, she kept tossing it into the un-smelter unit to soften the hardened steel, and as she finally broke the handle away from the blade, the remainder of the object disappeared into thin air, leaving only a chunky mound of silver steel in the possession of Lisbeth.

"Umm…that was weird…?" She looked confused as she held up the lump of metal, and then she turned.

"Um the handle is gone, so hopefully I'll be able to…" Lisbeth tried to explain the situation, but then felt a tiny little dart land in her neck.

Then after realizing her friends were completely silent, Lisebth's vision suddenly grew blurrier by the second. She only had time to take off her ring, and put away all her items in her inventory before noticing two emblems by her name in the corner of her vision.

One was a lightning bolt symbolizing paralysis. The other was a greyed out "Z" which meant it was now time for Lisbeth to hit the ground and finally receive the long awaited in-game nap she had begged her friends about the whole way up the mountain.

* * *

 **Well this had a bit of both _the Hobbit_ and the _LOTR_ stories in it, so that's kinda interesting! Kayaba doesn't like the rings, but Lisbeth seems like she may have cracked their trick! **

**Now, what will happen to our 3 traveling heroines? Comment and Review!**


	8. 8: A Ring of Gold

**Author's Note: Hello once again with Chapter 8! I really enjoyed writing this one, it was probably the first chapter I re-read like 5 times, because I liked this part in the original story, and wanted to make it as perfect as I could. Anyway I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Eight

Green Goblins, Black Riddles, and a _Ring_ of Gold

 _"And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge."_

― Galadriel, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

"Ugh…"

Lisbeth finally awoke from her cold and mysterious slumber as her eyes felt heavy and weighted. She tried raising her head to see around her, but was instantly stopped in her own movements as soon as she heard a loud and obnoxious voice.

"GET OFF YOUR ARSE, MAGGOT!"

Lisbeth's eyes were now wide open the moment she heard that nasty voice yelling at her. However before she could fully respond her hands were yanked high to the air, and with them the rest of her body followed unwillingly, as if the arms were about to pull right out of their sockets.

Lisbeth cried out with a tiny bit of pain, and then realized her hands were bound together in front of her and connected to a long, ugly rope in the hands of an even uglier goblin.

"Bleh!" She yelled out with sarcasm, trying to earn a reaction from the despicable NPC. Then she looked around and noticed the ropes around her wrists were also connected by a line to something behind her.

It was Leafa, who also had her arms bound forward. Behind her was Asuna, and together they formed a loosely tied train of captives as they marched along dark corridors and bridges under the cavernous mountain.

"Crap." Lisbeth said with sarcasm. She then turned to speak to Leafa. "Hey, you guys still…?"

"We're alive, Lisbeth." Leafa said with an annoyed tone in her voice. She then shook her head. "S-Sorry. Are you feeling better?"

Lisbeth turned back around. "Kinda…this is pretty creepy for a game, right? Have you guys tried logging out?"

Leafa shook her head again. "No. This game is kind of making that difficult at the moment…a little too real for my tastes."

Asuna spoke from behind Leafa. "Hey Lis! Did you get the weapons done?"

"Um…?" Lisbeth said with a hanging last consonant. "I uh…I got my hammer totally finished. Then I melted your sword down." She then turned to see Asuna's ring was no longer on her friend's finger. "And now I don't know if the lump of steel is still in the bag. "

Asuna then lit up. "Whoa that's right. My ring is in my pocket now. If it's off, and those pieces you got from melting it down are still in your bag…"

Lisbeth made no effort in moving slowly as she whipped her tiny game bag around and opened it with a small command. Then as she did another annoying goblin captain tried grabbing her bag.

" 'old on a minute. This little elf has some nice goodies she wants to give away!" He laughed as he grabbed her bag, but was only met with a protesting Lisbeth.

"AGH!" Lisbeth yelled as she combated her captor. "GUYS HE'S GONNA TAKE IT!"

The goblin looked angry and snapped at some of the other guards. "TAKE THE OTHERS' LOOT! _NOW!_ "

Without hesitation, the underling goblins did as they were commanded, and as they did four more surrounded Leafa and Asuna.

Fighting just like Lisbeth, Asuna and Leafa made a valiant effort to defend their rightful belongings. And then the goblins grabbed the wrong item.

"Well…what do we have here…?" The one bugging Asuna said with a sly grin as he pulled out the shiny white necklace from her equipped items. "This is a beaut'!"

"NO!" Asuna yelled, knowing it still contained the soul of her digital daughter. She then ran forward with all her might and reached out to grab the necklace, but only grabbed the goblin's arm instead.

Now she and the beast fought back and forth over a very loose bridge as the others cleared out. They clawed at each other's hands until Asuna brought up her foot and kicked him right in the back of the head.

"OOF!" He cried in pain as he flipped over the roped railing, but as he did he managed to grab the end of Asuna's long brown hair, which caused her to cry out in virtual pain.

"AGH!" She screamed, and as a result Asuna had no choice but to follow the pulling goblin down the railing and into the darkness below.

Then Leafa and Lisbeth yelled in fear for their friend's life, but as they cried Leafa's eyes opened wider, because she knew her hand rope was still connected to Asuna's.

"RAWR!" The goblin captain ran in and cut the rope between Leafa and the falling Asuna cleanly and clearly. He then shoved Leafa forward. "KEEP MARCHING ELF SCUM!"

Leafa reluctantly followed the order, but as she did her eyes were still locked on to the pits of darkness below.

Now hearing a tiny sound of crying from her blonde friend, Lisbeth slowed down and kicked back at Leafa from out in front.

"Hey, don't do it now, but try to sneak that ring of yours on your finger…I have an idea."

* * *

Now, down below in the dark cavern under the rope bridge, Asuna slowly stood from her long fall.

"But how did I…?"She had no idea how, but her health was left fully intact, and her mind was still perfectly sharp.

Then a tiny voice came from behind. "It was me! I put your ring back on for you! It supplies you with extra defensive manna."

Asuna stopped breathing and turned to find little Yui spawned from the bit of jewelry in the dead goblin's hand. She also had a tiny smile on her face.

"Being in your item bag gives me full control over your bagged and equipped items. Think of me like a second mind for your items!"

"Oh Yui…" Asuna let a tiny tear of happiness run down her cheek as she bent over to pick up her little daughter's glass treasure, and followed by safely putting it back around her neck.

Yui then nodded and looked further into the darkness. "Mommy…there's a reason we were brought down here."

Asuna looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Yui explained. "VR gaming NPCs are not supposed to act like that. Sure players can get captured as part of a story, and in these moments they may have items looted from them, but never in a manor like that. We were meant to have that goblin guy attack us, and we were meant to fall down this hole."

"But why? Why would we…?" Asuna tried to look around the empty darkness, until she stopped and paused her sights on an unusual glow from the ground.

It actually wasn't a glow, but more of a tiny radiant sparkle. It looked like solid gold, but a little dirtier. It was a band of some sort, a _ring_. It was simply gold, with no jewels or gem stones to decorate it, and it also held no markings or etches.

It just appeared as a humble golden ring, half buried in the dirt of the cave.

Asuna bent over in curiosity. "I-Is it a quest item…? She looked totally lost and reached out to grab it, but then Yui yelled out in fear.

"MOMMY BE CAREFUL!" She cried with horror. "What if it's like those creepy rings you and daddy have!?"

That actually did make Asuna stop for a moment. "Wait Kirito was given a ring too? I wonder what he got out of his…?"

She stopped and pondered for a moment, until she heard a noise of footsteps from beyond the cave valley. Acting purely out of instinct, she then reached out, grabbed the ring, and put it away in her pocket without reading its item tag.

She also slipped off her own ring of white, and as she did she picked up the mangled sword owned by the dead goblin at her feet, and then continued to march along the forgotten cave ahead.

Lined with only the light of Yui's radient glow from the shoulder of her mother, Asuna traveled down the long but narrow cave of darkness, until she rounded a corner near an open rocky room and discovered the last thing she ever expected to see.

It was another being with a torch, a man of sorts, possibly another elf. He had long flowing hair like Annatar, but not quit as long, only to the shoulders, none further below. He also wore elaborate golden armor, and on his belt was a very beautiful, curvaceous sword of shiny gold with an ornate brown handle.

Finally, his expression was adorned with two widened eyes, but then changed to a narrow vision met with a smug expression and soft grin as he gazed upon his new acquaintance.

"Bless us and splash us, what do we have here?" Said the man with a chuckle at the end of his voice. "Well…if it isn't my dear little Asuna. Lost in the caves below Middle-Earth."

Asuna froze for a moment as the man put his torch into a convenient hole in the wall, but as she recognized the thin creepy voice of the blonde man, her eyes lit up with fear, and her goblin sword raised up to meet the figure's neck.

"Su…Sugō? W-What are you doing here?"

Asuna was right. Standing before her was the spitting image of the virtual Sugō Nobuyuki. He even had the name "Oberon" hovering over his MEO avatar, just like his name in ALO.

Asuna sliced the thin air and re-stated her question. "Why are you here?"

Sugō laughed and began walking around the tiny cave room, making Asuna follow him with her blade. "Well come now, this is a game, and games are meant for playing, right?"

Asuna's vision narrowed. "Yea…only for people _out_ of prison."

"Prison?" Sugō stopped for a moment before letting out a second laugh. "Oh come now from my little moments in ALO? HA! Haven't you kept up with the news…I made bail. An American company by the name of _Mystic Gaming_ tracked me down and released me from prison."

Asuna looked ten times worse after she heard that news. "N-no…no they didn't."

Sugō didn't feel like wasting any time explaining his situation, and as a result kept using his time to play with Asuna. "Hmm, well perhaps they came looking for help with their new game. This _Middle-Earth Online_ is rather entertaining!"

Asuna then looked around and noticed just how real the dimly lit, murky cave looked around their two bodies. She then snapped out of it and reaffirmed her sword.

Sugō kept speaking. "Funny, we're both elves in this world much like the realm of ALfheim Online…did you know the creator of the Lord of the Rings based Middle-Earth on Norse mythology, much like I did when I designed ALO? He even named the realm of elves a crossed the great see 'Alfheim' like it was in real life. He and I seem to have similar minds."

Asuna was getting tired and held her goblin blade right at Sugō's face. "Stop wasting my time…why are you here?"

Sugō sighed and placed a palm on the top of his sword handle. "Very well, now that I know you're not a fan of the series…I'm here looking for a quest item. Well it isn't actually a quest item per say, more like an _accidental_ quest item. A tiny ring was taken out of the GM's possession and placed somewhere in this world without his permission, and I came here of all places to begin looking for it."

Asuna blinked. "Is that so...Are you working with him?"

Sugō grinned. "Am I? Even better question…do you have the item I seek?"

Both remained silent, and not a one tried to answer the other's question. Yui stood with shaking legs on Asuna's shoulder, and her face depicted nervous anticipation for her mother's next move.

Finally Sugō turned and kept walking. "Look, I want this ring, and you…probably want the way out of here, is that correct? Oddly enough the two of us find ourselves in a very similar position to the hero of _The Hobbit_."

Asuna raised an eyebrow. "W-what do you mean?"

Sugō explained. "The hero in the books falls from the town of goblins, discovers a secret ring, and looks for the exit out of the cave to find his missing friends. On the way he finds a truly pathetic creature blocking his path, and the only way out is through his permission…I assume you now find it funny because I happen to be portraying the creature from the story?"

Asuna never laughed, but she did nod. "I just didn't want to be the one to say it."

"HA!" Sugō howled with more laughter, and just then tried walking closer to the girl. "Sweet Asuna you still are the same witty girl I fell in love with all those years ago." He then stopped and clapped his hands.

"I have a splendid idea! We'll solve this predicament just like they do in the book. Since I have the way out…and I still believe _you_ have the ring I'm looking for…we'll play a game of riddles."

Asuna slightly lowered her weapon, but not her mental guard. "Riddles?"

"Of course! Here, I'll start…" Sugō nodded and placed his hand back on his sword handle as he began pacing around the room once more.

 _"_ _I give many things life in exchange for my own._

 _My energy is great, but my expiration not known."_

He paused and chuckled a little. "Okay, what am I?"

Asuna stuttered for a moment. "Is this some kind of creepy trick?"

Sugō rolled his eyes. "It's a game Asuna. Whoever wins gets what they want."

Asuna's vision narrowed for a moment until Yui leaned up and whispered into Asuna's ear.

Finally, the brown haired beauty revealed the answer. "A Battery."

Sugō shook his head. "Well yes…but that's not the official answer…think more _medieval_ , with no answers that make sense only in the modern world!"

Asuna paused again for a brief moment before her tiny little helper leaned up to give her the second answer.

"It's the sun."

Sugō rolled his eyes and unsheathed his sword. He then tapped the gemstone on Yui's necklace to try and turn off its magic, and it successfully worked.

Asuna raised her sword and smacked his away, but as she did she also noticed Yui disappear with the light of her _Evenstar._

Sugō made a comment. "No cheating next time…now it's your turn."

Asuna paused for a moment, but kept walking in a circle with her blade held high to combat her enemy. She then stopped walking and lowered her blade for a brief moment. "Okay I guess I know a few riddles…"

" _…_ _The beginning of eternity_

 _The end of time and space_

 _The beginning of every end,_

 _And the end of every place..."_

Asuna finished and sighed a deep breath. "…tell me what it is?"

Sugō once again rolled his eyes and turned to face the wall. "The letter _E_ Asuna? …are you not your father's child? Surely you have something better for me hidden away in that big beautiful brain of yours?"

Asuna didn't like the insult, but Sugō spoke again before she could defend herself.

 _"_ _I am always with you_

 _But commonly forgotten._

 _You use me constantly,_

 _but sometimes I'm rotten."_

Asuna paused for a moment and lowered her blade even more. Her head was starting to hurt, and she usually wasn't used to being the dumb one in the room.

 _"_ _He's smarter than I am…he's always lorded that over me and my family…that's how he got around with his acting near my dad…"_ She then re-collected her thoughts but once again got distracted by the creepy environment around her.

 _"_ _I can't think…and I can't do this without Yui…ugh this cave is so dark…and those goblins are still making noise above."_ She grunted with anger in thought as she could her more goblins passing over their heads from bridges.

She then scrunched up her face. _"And boy do they stink…I can barely breathe down here the air is so…"_ Then she stopped as a new thought hit her open mind like an arrow on a dart board.

"It's air."

Sugō stopped walking and let a tiny smile take his face. "Ah…very impressive my dear. You're turn I guess."

Asuna took a breath of satisfaction before carrying on with the game. She then sighed and opened her eyes.

 _"_ _It may only be given,_

 _Not taken or bought,_

 _What a sinner desires,_

 _But a saint does not."_

Sugō collected the words from her riddle before letting out a breathy laugh. He then slapped his sides and turned towards his rival.

"Asuna, are you saying I'm a sinner? Hah, you're trying to poke fun at me. Oh dear…it's _forgiveness_ isn't it?"

"Grr…" Asuna tensed her grip on her goblin handle as she gritted her teeth. She then let Sugō finish his laugh and carry on.

"Fine…

 _"...It is used for good or evil, but does not give any power._

 _As menacing as a demon or as gentle as a flower."_

He stopped and leaned up against the rock wall beside him, and while he did, the mad man delivered one of the creepier grins of the evening so far.

In fact, his smile was so creepy…it actually gave away his answer.

"It's a smile." Asuna said with firm confirmation.

Sugō had no time to react as Asuna charged forward with her next words.

" _I have two bodies, though both joined in one._

 _The more I stand still the faster I run."_

Sugō started growing more impatient as his eye slightly began to twitch. "Hourglass…" He then carried on.

 _"_ _You heard me before, yet you hear me again,_

 _But I stop when I die, 'Til you call me again."_

Asuna's head was at the brink of her last thought. These games were stretching every corner of her brain, she nearly forgot where she was in the first place.

"I…I…" She knew the answer couldn't be hard, but she began losing energy and patience for this game of meaningless riddles. She had no intention of relinquishing her new ring, and her former fiancé had no intentions of providing her with a way out.

As a result she slowly tried tip-toeing backwards to make for a hasty escape, but as she did her foot hit a loose rick and caused a loud bang to travel throughout the cave hall.

As the sound vibrated off the walls of the cavern Asuna's eyes grew wider and wider, and finally she yelled he answer at the top of her tired lungs.

"ECHO!"

Sugō barely looked impressed, and picked one of his ears with a pinky as the yell rang throughout the cave as well.

"Correct…though I really didn't need the demonstration." He then started walking forward after noticing her original plan of escape. This pinned her back to a rock face wall, and forced her to carry on with the game.

"Let's finish this up, shall we? I don't have all day."

Asuna didn't appreciate the attitude, and as a result she delivered some back. "Gladly, but you won't like my next one." She then help her blade up high once again. "Actually I'll give you a hint…it's something I've been meaning to get you for a while now…"

Asuna carried on with her next riddle.

 _"_ _A man makes it, but has no need of it._

 _Another buys it, but has no use for it._

 _Then one uses it, but he can neither see nor feel it…"_

Asuna could tell by Sugō's now-grimacing face that he knew the answer, and he didn't like it one bit.

Either way, she carried on with the finale. "What is it?"

Sugō lowered his eyes to meet with hers, and as he did his grip tightened more on his elfish sword handle.

"A Coffin."

Asuna and Sugō both sprang into action right after that answer, and as Sugō drew his shiny elvish sword, Asuna raised hers in attack. The former King of the Fairies blocked her attack, and swung his blade around to hit her in the side.

Luckily, even though her weapon was practically garbage, her skills as a swordswoman helped her defend the attack.

Then, she backed up and collected the battle. _"Crap, I know I'm better than he is…but his sword is too strong for me to defeat with this one."_

She then broke the thought as she quickly repelled another swift attack from Sugō, but with every hit she blocked, her weapon's life and health parameters were slowly lowering by the second.

Then, she raised it to deliver a hopeful strike, but as she did Sugō spun his upward and sliced her black mangled bade in two, and then followed by kicking Asuna into the wall of the cave.

Finally, now with Asuna on her back, Sugō raised his blade and put it right on her neck.

"Give me the Ring Asuna…I have no reason to hurt you." He tilted his head and lowered down to his knees.

Then, he reached out and grabbed a strand of her long hair. "But then again…I would love to re-enact our fine days from ALO…"

Asuna wanted to spit in his face, or vomit from this horrible place and smell. She then sighed and turned her head away.

"Fine."

Quickly thinking, she removed the ring from her pocket and revealed it in the palm of her hand. But actually it wasn't her new golden ring at all, it was her white gemmed ring gifted to her from Annatar.

Sugō raised an eyebrow. "Do you take me for a fool? I know the ring I'm looking for. It's gold, and it has…"

Asuna continued with a fearful face turned slightly away from view. "Y-yes….and I was hoping to use that against you to hide it...but now I can't lie. It's actually white gold, not regular. I think they call it _mithril_?…Anyway this is the ring I found."

Sugō had no idea what to say he was so furious. However, suddenly as he looked down, the shiny white ring started to look more and more…precious to him.

"Hmm…well I suppose this kid could have changed the Ring for his own design…" He then swiped the white ring from her hand and stood up, placing it in his pocket.

"Very well, thanks for the gift, dear." He suddenly had the sarcasm return to his voice.

Asuna remained on the ground with a face of fury. "So? Do I get the way out of here or what?"

Sugō stopped and laughed. "Ahaha…I'll show you a way out of the cave…" He then revealed a crystal object similar to one from SAO.

Finally he smirked. "Well…it's my way out." Then, Sugō the former king of ALO vanished into thin air, leaving Asuna and supposedly Yui alone in the darkness of the Misty Mountains.

Yui finally sprang back out of her necklace and hugged her mom's face with her tiny holographic hands. "MOMMY!"

"I'm fine, Yui…I'm fine." Asuna tried comforting her little spirit follower, but then she looked back up to the noisy goblins above.

"Yui we have to find Lisbeth and Leafa…I need to know whether or not Lisbeth's smithing worked."

Yui wiped a tiny tear from her eye to collect her mom's words. "Okay, but why is that so important?"

Asuna sighed. "Because I just gave away my ring, and if Lisbeth didn't forge my sword correctly I may have just lost my best weapon for good."

* * *

 **AGH! It's that d*ck Sugou!I looked up good riddles for a long time trying to make them fit haha. I didn't want to use the same ones in the book, and I wanted the Sugou/Asuna dialogue to stand away from Bilbo and Gollum (Except the cheeky "Bless us and splash us" quote in the beginning. I couldn't help myself.) So Asuna needs to find out if Lisbeth retrieved her meal from the sword, and she needs to know if Lisbeth and Leafa are even alive!**

 **Anyway I had fun writing this scene a lot, but there's more tomorrow! Stay tuned and like always try to leave a comment or review!**


	9. 9: The Company Moves On

**Author's Note: Well here's chapter nine! Hope you enjoy! (I noticed this one might be kinda short...that's not always a bad thing I guess!)**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the Lord of the Rings.**

* * *

Chapter Nine

The Company Move On

 _"One may guess that your trolls had plundered, other plunderers, or come on the remnants of old robberies in some hole in the mountains of old. I have heard that there are still forgotten treasures to be found in the deserted caverns of the mines of Moria, since the dwarf and goblin war."_

― Elrond, _The Hobbit_

* * *

"THE PRISONERS ARE GONE!"

A legion of Misty Mountain goblins ran back and forth through the nearest caverns outside of Goblin town in a dire search for their missing captives. Sadly however, their hopes off finding the precious elvish cargo were all fading away.

"IDIOTS! FIND THEM OR I'LL TAKE YOUR HEADS!" The legion captain cried out with rage, trying to affirm his dominion over the rowdy group of creatures.

However, as the goblins started cowering around the nearby caves and bridges, two stray goblins looked down the cavern way to see an empty rope bridge moving frantically with invisible footprints.

"THERE! THESE GIRLIES ARE USING MAGIC!" They all yelled out in rage as they each made haste for the entrance into the neighboring corridor.

Meanwhile, at the eastern end of that lone bridge.

"KEEP RUNNING LEAFA!" Lisbeth yelled out as they hands where still tied, and as one long strand of rope connected their hands together, Lisbeth had their lose end in front balled up in her hands. She managed to round up their train leash as right after they went invisible, and then she and Leafa knocked their local guards down to the pits below just in time to make their planned escape.

Now Leafa follows Lisbeth through a windy series of bridges and caves as they make due for the nearest exit they could find. They figured they had been walking a long ways, and only hoped to find an eastward exit out of the mountains sooner or later.

However, Leafa started yelling closely form behind. "WE STILL NEED TO FIND ASUNA! WHAT IF SHE'S BACK IN THE LAST FEW VALLEYS?"

Lisbeth had a smile on her face that Leafa couldn't see. "NAH ASUNA HAS YUI WITH HER! SHE'LL PROBABLY BEAT US OUT OF HERE HERSELF!"

Leafa liked the confidence and nodded. "RIGHT!" She then proceeded to run with Lisbeth into their next cave.

However, before rushing out into the next corridor, the two invisible girls stopped to hear two stray goblins scratching their heads while they shared a conversation.

"Oy! We need to find these girls, or else the captain will have our head!"

The other yelled back. "Fuck the captain! I'm more worried about the _master_ …he wanted them dead you know?"

Lisbeth and Leafa both held their breaths to catch that last bit, and the haunting reality that it referred to themselves made it that much harder to keep silent.

The first goblin agreed. "I know he did…and when we catch them we'll loot 'em and gut 'em."

Leafa leaned up to Lisbeth. "That is not normal AI…we're in serious trouble."

Lisbeth agreed, but she was too preoccupied with the cave that led behind the two lone goblins. It almost looked…like it had a light near the end.

"Yea…" Lisbeth laughed to reply to Leafa, but afterword's she ran forward and right for the two lone guards.

Leafa had no choice but to follow her confusing friend, and as she had no idea what to do, Lisbeth ran to her right.

"Get on the other side!' Lisbeth yelled as she grabbed on end of the rope that connected their hands.

Leafa laughed and accepted the plan, and as she did they ran forward with the perk of invisibility still in-tact, and clotheslined the poor beast until their nearly choked and fell over.

Then, the two girls cut the ropes on the exposed goblin blades and freed their bound hands, opening their bags to receive their own weapons and made haste for the exit up ahead.

However, as they made their escape, Leafa used her sensitive hearing perk to listen behind them, and the sound she heard could only be described as hundreds of tiny little hands and feet scurrying in their direction.

"RUN!" Although they were already running, Leafa made it clear they needed to get out fast, otherwise they could kiss their progress inside MEO goodbye.

As they started running out of breath, Leafa and Lisbeth did not let their hopes fade as the light at the end of the tunnel grew bigger and brighter with each step they took.

The scurrying goblins grew louder, and Leafa felt so disturbed by the sound she was almost certain that if she chose to look back, she would probably see the front lines of goblins behind them.

However, as she nearly made the move to turn and see their pursuers, Lisbeth grabbed her hand and jumped into the bright light beyond the door, blinding them both as they hit the rocks of the exposed foot hills below.

After letting the dust clear form the air, Leafa and Lisbeth both coughed more out of their lungs, and dusted the rest off of their cloaks. Then they stopped and heard goblins crying in pain from the cave exit above, and simply assumed goblins were weakened by the light of the sun.

"Hehe…" Lisbeth laughed. "I guess we're lucky it's daytime."

Leafa laughed too, but smacked Lisbeth on the arm. "Oh shut up…man I wonder where Asuna is…?"

"Are you two just now getting out of the caves?"

Leafa and Lisbeth both lit up with smiles as they recognized that voice from behind, and as they turned around they saw Asuna Yuuki standing over them with crossed arms and a smiling expression.

"ASUNA!" They both yelled out and stood to deliver a great big hug, and without hesitation Asuna delivered one in return.

Lisbeth leaned back. "We were so worried! What happened to you when you!?"

Asuna sighed with a smile and rubbed the back of her head. "Eh it's a story I'd like to leave inside the caves…" She felt oddly secretive about the new ring she found, but decided to leave them with a fair bit of news. "A-actually…I lost my white ring."

Leafa raised her hands up to her mouth and gasped. "No…did you drop it when you fell?"

Asuna shook her head. "No, but it is the reason I got out alive…" Before her two worried friends could reply, Asuna looked to Lisbeth. "Hey Lis, I'm going to need to see if you have my sword metal."

"Ah… _*gulp*_ …okay." Lisbeth did not like the sound of Asuna losing her ring, because now it left more pressure on the results of her little science experiment back inside Moria.

As a result, the blacksmith shook the entire time she opened up her bag. "O-Okay, but just so you know, you dropped your ring. It's not my fault if I don't have…" Suddenly Lisbeth felt that she found a good place to shut up as she pulled out a large mound of smoothed silver metal.

Asuna cheered and hugged her in response. "OH LIS THAT'S IT! I'm so glad you made me give it to you!"

Lisbeth awkwardly accepted. "You're…welcome?" She then put the item labeled "Metal of Lambent Light" back inside her bag.

"Okay, so now where do we go?"

Asuna tried to answer Lisbeth's question with a swift response, but it took a while for her to pull out the map. "Um let's see…now it says head east through the old road of Mirkwood. From there you will arrive out in the northern Kingdom of Dale, and then…"

Leafa anxiously made her finish. "And then what? What's in Dale?"

Asuna looked to the eats and sighed with an affirmative breath.

"Erebor."

* * *

Now with the girls safely out of the Misty Mountains, we now return back to the far western side, where our second group of heroes makes their way to the Lonely Mountain as well.

Here, the much more efficient group of original "dwarves" now marches through the Trollshaws with ease as they make way for Rivendell. Chrysheight still leads their campaign as the 5 newly recruited players make way for the demo quest.

"Man, who woulda known troll killing would be so easy!" Klein said as he spun his proud katana blade in circles, and also brushed a hand over every single frozen troll they passed.

Silica to his left then sighed. "Yea…but I wish they didn't name them simple things like 'Bill' and 'Larry'…it makes it kind of sad to see them get frozen."

Sinon shrugged and agreed. "I suppose so…but they are fun to fight. They're like bosses and little regular NPCs combined into one."

"I agree…now can we please slow down so I can catch up!?" Recon followed with his short little pony's legs and tried to keep up, but it appeared that no one was really paying any attention.

Chrysheight smiled to all his rowdy followers, but then turned to find a very content Agil looking off into the distance. "Excuse me, Andrew is it? Do you mind telling me what troubles you?"

"Huh?" Agil turned form his horse to give Chrysheight an answer. "Uh it's nothing...just thinking about this game is all, and this Annatar guy."

The wizard in blue nodded. "Ah agreed…this man is very peculiar. I haven't even met him yet, but the tales from earlier accounts lead me to believe he's quite the game creator."

Agil nodded. "Yea, well I'm just trying to compare his game to the reals Rings series. These gift rings he gave us…they don't sit well with me." He was talking about the individual rings they all received after completing their first lone mini-quests. Normally Annatar was supposed to deliver the rings in the opening moments, but since he wasn't there to send them out into Middle-Earth, he auto-programed the game to deliver their rings to the 5 new hosts the moment they completed mini-quests.

Chrysheight tilted his head in both directions. "I see why that may be the case. They are odd items to hand out in the beginning of a demo game, and the powers they are known to unlock are still pretty vague."

"Yea…" Agil went to say more, but Klein yelled before he could reply.

"WHOA WE FOUND A HUGE CAVE!"

Agil and Chrysheight road their horses faster to pass Recon and make it to Klein and the others. After Recon made it over, Klein jumped off his mount and climbed in.

"Well you know what they say? One troll's trash is another man's…man it really stinks in here!" Klein tried to keep to his joke, but the fowl stench left his mind and words frozen in time.

Silica and Sinon agreed as they covered up their noses with the tops of their tunics, and as Recon did the same, Chrysheight and Agil seemed to handle it the best they could without a guard.

Then Klein came back around a corner with two shiny new toys. "Hey! Check it out!"

Klein walked over to Agil and Chrysheight with the two sharp new swords, both covered in dirt and cobwebs. However, even with a tattered appearance, there seemed to be an alluring presence about these two blades.

"It says it's called _Orcrist_? It's a…oh it's also the Goblin cleaver!" Klein laughed and put the medium length curved sword firmly on his belt. He then proceeded to hand over the straighter long sword to Agil.

"Here man, you can take this one." Klein said with a smile as he gave Agil the sword, and walked back out into the light.

Agil drew half of the blade and then smiled as he remembered a similar scene from the movies. "Actually, I think this sword goes to the wizard…" He then smiled and handed it over to Chrysheight, who until now held nothing but a wooden blue staff.

Chrysheight paused and took the sword, and then after pulling it from the scabbard, he let out a satisfied smile. "Okay… _Glamdring_ _the Foe-Hammer_ they call it…I like it!" He put it away and clipped it to his belt. "Thanks you, Andrew."

"Eh, you can stick to calling me Agil, man." As Agil laughed, he escorted Chrysheight out of the cave, and as Sinon and the others followed, Silica tripped on an exposed nub coming from the ground.

"Ow…" She yelled out, realizing only Sinon turned around. Then, the tall archer tipped the object that made Silica fall over with her feet to clear the dirt.

"Hey Silica, I think you found a new sword."

"Huh?" Silica turned over on her bottom to dust the rest of it off and pulled it from the ground. She then pulled part of it out of the sheath to reveal shiny new elvish blade glimmering in the faint sunlight from the entrance of the cave.

Sinon let a small smile take her face as she looked down at her friend. "So what's that thing called, anyway?"

Silica lit up with a smile and opened up its info page. "It says…it says it's called _Sting_!"

Now equipped with a new weapon, Silica left the cave with Sinon and smiled as she jumped back on her horse.

Right away Klein did the same and kicked at his back legs. "Okay gang, I don't think we're that far away from Rivendell. So now let's hit the road!"

As the party rejoined the dirt path of the forest, Silica chimed out with an excited voice. "So where do we go after Rivendell then?"

Klein shrugged and turned back to his two other friends. "I dunno…Agil, wizard-guy…any ideas?"

Chrysheight laughed and let Agil do the talking, and Agil spoke up while scratching his chin. "Actually we head out of Rivendell and into those big ass mountains to the east. They're too tall to walk over, so we need to find a pass."

Recon scratched his head from behind the pack. "Well what about going under them? Or through a cave?"

Agil laughed "Nah, that'd be a fool's way to die in those routes. Going under it will lead you right into Goblin Town, unless you go even further below, but that will just lead you to…"

Agil tried to explain the rest, but stopped himself and his horse as a quick revelation returned to his mind. Klein, Silica, and all the others halted their mounts too as Agil's eye started opening wider and wider.

"Oh no…I just remembered what the rings mean…" He then looked up. "TAKE THEM OFF NOW!"

No one tried to argue with him, but the other remaining followers all nervously removed their mysterious rings from their hands.

Finally, Sinon moved her horse a little more forward and spoke up. "Agil, why can't we wear the rings…?"

Agil started breathing a little harder as it all hit him then and there. He then thought about Kirito, Asuna, Lisbeth, and Leafa, and the worst started taking over his mind.

"Oh no…these rings are bad news…and now I have an idea why Annatar is giving them to players."

Silica started shrinking down on her horse with fear. "W-what do you think he's doing, Agil?"

Agil sighed and looked up to the fog-covered Misty Mountains to the eats, and then he turned back.

"It's how the story works. The bad guy makes rings for his enemies, and then gives them out at gifts. Then…"

Klein galloped over to his side. "Dude please just spill it already! What does he do with them?"

Agil finally found the courage to continue.

"Then…he forges a master ring to rule them all, and turns the other ring bearers into his puppets."

The group fell silent for quite a long time, until Klein remembered his impressive new sword stats (because of his new ring) and broke the quiet moment with an un-needed comment.

"Weeell…what _kind_ of puppets are we talking about here?"

* * *

 **So Klein and the others never met Annatar, so they were never given rings, but he had the game programmed to reward them rings after their first individual mini-quests anyway...that is some straight up dedication to give gifts! I bet he's a good guy around Christmas time.**

 **Anyway Agil is slowly remembering the story to one of his childhood favorites, until he does though we'll carry on tomorrow with number 10! Double digits already?**

 **Comment and Review if ya can!**


	10. 10: The Mirkwood Road

**Author's Note: Here's number 10! Since the demo follows the Hobbit quest these chapters might follow more of that book than the Rings, but I tried to add my own twists in the form of SAO stuff...**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Ten

The Mirkwood Road

 _"Well, here is Mirkwood! The greatest of the forests of the Northern world. I hope you like the look of it."_

― Gandalf, _The Hobbit_

* * *

As the sun rose overhead, the eastward traveling elves of Asuna, Lisbeth, and Leafa made their journey down the Misty Mountain Foothills, and into the low river land of the upper Anduin.

Here, they searched for the passing of the Old Ford, which was set to lead them into the east, and through the great Greenwood of Rhovanion. However, in this modern age, the Greenwood went by a _new name_ of total mystery and darkness.

Before they reached any woodland realm however, Asuna and her company were slowly catching up on their supply of food and items before they carried on. They did not wish to repeat their semi-starvation on the slopes of the Misties, so they made a good day of fishing, hunting, gathering, and resting as long as they could.

Now, Asuna sits by a camp fire and three tents as she looks up to the evening sun and waning skies.

"Wow, I would really enjoy reading that Hobbit book right about now, hehe…I wonder if it's an in-game item?" She pondered that thought for a little bit until Lisbeth and Leafa came back with several small rabbits from up the hill.

"Okay, we'll get a real meal tonight…no stale bread with leaves for us!" Lisbeth was excited about getting actual food in her belly, and now that they made it past they towering mountains they really had no reason to worry for the rest of the trip.

Asuna giggled and nodded. "True that! Plus I think it's pretty temperate for the rest of the way, so hopefully we'll get some good weather too."

Leafa took a seat as well, and handed Asuna a full canteen of water. "Here ya go. We got this from the river down over the hill. It looks like it'd take forever to cross!"

"Oh I bet!" Asuna agreed, because she just looked at the map not too long ago. "It supposedly runs all the way down half the continent. Maybe we'll use it to explore the second half of the map once we find Kirito."

"Yea…" Leafa sat down with a warm smile. "I can't wait to see him. It feels like it's been forever."

Lisbeth started turning one of the rabbits over the fire on a stick. "Yea it really has. Man, I never thought I'd miss the kid this much, haha."

Asuna shrugged. "Well he does tend to have that effect on people…"

A silence fell over the campsite until Leafa spoke up again. "H-Hey Asuna…so what exactly happened to your ring? I-If you don't mind my asking."

Lisbeth waved a hand as she gulped down some water. "No me too I wanna know too!"

"Ahaha eh it's not really much of a story…" Asuna looked guilty, but also happy to explain. "I found some troupe of goblins down there and they wanted to take me back up. Yui suggested giving them the ring since you fixed the issue with the swords, and other than that I really had no use for it."

Lisbeth stopped drinking. "But…we didn't know I fixed the sword issue until after you got out."

Asuna laughed. "I guess you'd call it a gamble?" She didn't want to tell them about Sugō to keep them from worrying too much, and for some strange reason she felt like she didn't have to tell them about her new ring either.

The issue with Sugō made sense, but why did she not feel comfortable telling them about her new ring? It was just a tiny piece of gold, and as far as she knew it had no known powers. Sugō made it sound pretty important, so because of that she decided to take it for safe keeping, but deep down she felt very compelled to keep it a secret for as long as she could. Perhaps it was her mind wanting to be playful with her friends, or maybe she wanted to learn more about its mysteries before revealing the truth.

Either way, Asuna determined it would be best to keep the ring a secret for now.

"Anyway how about you guys!?" Asuna said with cheer. "When did you escape?"

"Oh that was not a fun experience." Lisbeth lowered her shoulders. "We had to walk forever before the guards got off our backs. Meanwhile Leafa is struggling to get her magic ring onto her fingers, and that just used up more time."

"Hey!' Leafa yelled. "It's pretty hard to open up an inventory with tied hands and an audience of goblins! Anyway…I used a sneak spell powerful enough for 2, but the downside meant the duration was cut in half, so Lisbeth yanks the leash from the guards in front and pushes them out of the way. We ran from there into a few other caves and then next thing we know it's sunny and outdoors."

Asuna mimicked Lisbeth's slouchy manor and took a sip of water. "Yikes, sounds pretty terrifying."

Lisbeth rolled her eyes. "Yea? It's been pretty terrifying the whole stinkin' trip. First that creepy willow tree, then the trolls, then the goblins…if we get caught by one more damned group of creepy monsters I'm gonna ditch this game and leave Kirito to fend for himself."

Asuna giggled again and looked up to the sky. "I don't know I kind of like all the excitement and adventure. ALO is fun, but the closed world is getting kind of old. I'm getting a lot of SAO vibes from Middle-Earth…you know without the whole death game."

"Oh yea…" Leafa put a finger to her cheek. "You don't think this game has any weird death rules, do you?"

Lisbeth looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well think about it…" Leafa began to explain. "SAO had Kayaba killing players in real life, and ALO eliminates all fast travel, which means death is not an option for travel. Heck even Gun Gale had that creepy guy wondering around making people fear for death."

"Yea…" Asuna understood what she meant. "I hope this game has no goofy quirks about it." She then sighed and leaned back. "Ugh…I just want Kirito back so we can get out of here, or maybe go on a new adventure down south!"

Eventually the girl's conversation followed them throughout the late evening and into the night. From there they'd take their sleep at the slopes of the lower foothills and wait for morning to come and lead them on the next leg of their journey.

* * *

Now, Asuna rolled over and found a warm beam of sunlight passing through a few trees in the distance, and the beam of light just so happened to hit her right in the face.

"Ugh…" This caused her to roll over and pull her sleeping sack over her face to try and hide it, but as she turned the other way she actually awoke even further to find Lisbeth and Leafa sitting up behind a big boulder looking up to the mountains.

"Sshh…!" Lisbeth leaned over and waved at Asuna with a quiet but alarming voice. "I think we're being followed!"

"What…!?" Asuna frantically whispered to keep her voice low, but the realization from Lisbeth did not grant her a good morning.

Leafa turned too. "We saw some orcs or whatever they're called running over a hill in the distance, but Lisbeth swore she saw this huge bear thing scare them off, and now we don't know where any of them are."

Lisbeth started stuffing her knapsack into a smaller bag for storage. "Yea, and I don't wanna find out where they are either! Time to wrap this campsite up and move out!"

Asuna sat up and rubbed her eyes before she made any hasty decisions. "Well it sounds like that bear was just being nice. He probably scared any other orcs off our trail too."

As Asuna stood up to collect her thing as well Lisbeth finally finished with hers, and that prompted her to begin a thought.

"Hey…what's the difference between orcs and goblins anyway?"

"Ah…um…?" Leafa tried to answer, but no words came out. The all three girls sat quietly in a circle, but none of them volunteered to provide a suggestion.

Then, they could hear a loud roaring noise from the north, and that influenced them to end the thought and gather up their things at a faster pace to make due for the east.

Now, making the journey on nothing but their feet, the three girls crossed over the Old Ford stretching a crossed the wide Anduin River. From there it was another several miles to the first line of trees they'd find of the forest, and as they grew closer, the thicket of green and brown grew larger by the sight.

"Okay…" Asuna said with the map in her hands as they made it to the flat edge of the forest border. "This is it, _Mirkwood_."

"Eww…Mirkwood?" Lisbeth said with a scowl. "Why would you call a forest something like that?"

Leafa walked forward and put her hand on a rather grey looking tree with browning leave. "I dunno, but it looks like the trees are pretty sick. Maybe there's something evil in here?"

Asuna stood with a tall back as a small gust of cool wind rolled out of the forest and through her hair. She then felt a tiny chill run down her spin as she took a deep breath and walked forward.

"Yea it might be that, but I'm going in either way."

Lisbeth sighed, and Leafa nodded as the two friends followed Asuna into the old road path of the mysterious Mirkwood.

As they walked further and further into the trees, they noticed things were in fact looking less green up close, and a lot more black or grey. The plants didn't look healthy on the forest floor, and there appeared to be several large cobwebs floating about all around them.

"Soo why didn't we walk around the forest?" Lisbeth said as she tiptoed around every piece of mud and web she found on the floor of the woods.

Asuna kept marching forward but slowly turned around to address the question. "The map has the forest stretching 600 miles north to south _…*yawn*…_ and it only goes for 250 miles east to west. I know I made a bad choice taking us through that Old Forest as a short cut, but in this case we really don't have an option."

"I get ya…" Leafa admitted, though she too was walking funny around everything she found.

"D-D…don't worry…we'll be out of here in no time…" For that matter Asuna was also taking careful choices when placing her foot down. "I mean at the very least…it's nice to see we have some experience with this sort of thing."

"Yea…I guess you're right…" Lisbeth replied with an almost passive voice as she slowly walked behind Asuna. The girls had been traveling for over an hour now, and the thick foggy air of the forest seemed to be doing some damage to their breathing and mind.

Asuna then decided to look up to the canopy above, but other than a few shiny flutters above the leaves, there was no sight of sunlight or sky to be seen. They had no idea if they were still even walking east, and now they had no idea where the road was before them.

Leafa turned on a tiny wind spell to waft some of the nasty air away from her face, but as soon as it ended a cloud of fog would roll back in and make up for the lost time. Now they were all three trudging along in a slow line as they each tried to keep their feet up. They were lucky to get a full night's sleep the evening before, because from the looks on their faces, it was almost a miracle to see them still standing.

"Hey...hey…Asuna…" Lisbeth spoke up. "What direction are we going in?"

Asuna didn't have the reserved energy to keep walking and turned around at the same time, so she tried to make up for it by yelling a little bit. "I…think we're heading east…I hope we're heading east…"

Leafa looked up to the canopy also. "We can't see the sun though…" She then looked down to the dirt covered ground. "We…we lost the road guys."

Lisbeth and Asuna both stopped walking as they too looked down to find no stone or gravel beneath their feet any longer. Now it was all dirt, grass, leaves, webs, and roots from overgrown trees.

Lisbeth started yanking on her hair. "AGH! Don't tell me we're lost! This has to be the creepiest place we've seen in the entire game!"

Asuna rubbed her eyes. "I know, but we don't know we're lost entirely…maybe we started heading northeast, and our minds are making a short cut for us."

Lisbeth scratched her head. "Asuna…that makes no sense…"

"I dunno…" Leafa laughed with a teasing sigh. "Kinda made sense to me…hehe"

Lisbeth face-palmed and then let out a little cough in response. "Ugh, we need to find the sun, and see if we're going the right way."

"I got it!" Asuna turned with bags under her eyes and pulled out the map from her pocket. She then slipped it under her arm and then grabbed onto a low branch to begin climbing a tree.

Lisbeth looked up with a worried face, and Leafa started clapping, until they heard scurrying in the distance, followed by cracking branches.

That got Lisbeth's attention, and it seemed to snap Leafa out of her funk. Meanwhile Asuna was slowly climbing higher and higher as she grabbed on to branches to hoist her further above the tree line.

"I needed fresh air anyway…" She told herself as she climbed. "I could feel my mind starting to slip a little…" Then as Asuna reached over the leaves on the top, her head popped out and collected the largest cloud of fresh air she had ever breathed in her entire life.

"Ahhhhh…" Asuna looked revived and ready for more action as she took in the air and sunlight from above. She then opened her healthy eyes wider to see the east was closer than she thought.

"Hey guys! The Lonely Mountain is right up ahead! …I think?" She had to pull out a map and double check. "I mean, I see the Lake…Lake-Town must be on that! And there's the…" Asuna had cheer in her voice, until she realized her friends were not responding.

"Guys…guy?" Asuna bent down to clear leaves from around her waist, and as she did she could see Leafa and Lisbeth standing back to back with their weapons at full draw in the middle of the forest floor.

"Oh brother, what now…?" Asuna sighed and took one last breath of fresh air before ducking back under the tree line. She then slowly started climbing back down, and as she did she reached down to her belt to grab her…

"Oh no…" Asuna remembered. "I don't have a sword anymore." She was right. Her _Lambent Light_ was currently a slab of steel sitting inside Lisbeth's inventory. Her equipped sword from Elrond was taken by the goblins, her Bree sword was sold in Rivendell, and her goblin sword used to fight Sugō had been destroyed.

In fact, not only was she missing a sword, she was now missing her white ring from Annatar. The only valuable item she had in her possession was her new golden ring from the Misty Mountains.

As a result, she pulled the mysterious golden band out from her bag and looked at it closely. Once again she couldn't find any jewels or inscriptions written anywhere on its surface or interior. This left her puzzled for a brief moment until she remembered where she was.

"Ah…well…" She thought it was a regular ring, but now it felt like it was her only way out. In a way…it was almost _begging_ her to put it on.

Then, Asuna took a deep breath and put the ring on her finger. As she did her world changed completely. Her vision was now combined with a weird glossy silver wind surrounding everything in front of her, and she could not hear anything as an empty void of no sounds surrounded her presence.

"Whoa…" She looked around in a puzzled state before moving her limbs, which moved a tad bit slower than usual, almost as if she were swimming in very light water.

Then, Asuna snapped back into motion for the third time, and jumped down to re-collect with her friends.

"Hey guys what's the big…?" Asuna started talking until she saw a look of terror on both of their faces. Then she too looked around and noticed several large black figures scurrying about in the trees around them.

Asuna's hands began shaking as she started whispering. "G-Guys…what is that?"

Leafa and Lisbeth didn't answer her, and it puzzled Asuna for a brief moment before she realized they were probably startled by the moving sounds. She didn't even feel the need to take her ring off the entire time as Leafa stepped forward and shot out a whirl of wind towards one of the trees.

Then, the opposite end of the trees moved, and a large, black harry spider ran out at full sprint, until Lisbeth stepped forward and smacked it on its head, killing it instantly with her mace.

Asuna held hands over her mouth, and then turned around to find one running right at her too, but as she went to move, the spider ran right by her and lunged at Leafa.

"W-wha…? Why did it…?" Asuna watched Leafa kill the arachnid with full confusion as she wondered what was going on. "I was standing right here…wasn't I?"

Then she looked down at her hand and saw the golden ring looking back at her. She then looked up, and noticed an extra piece about Leafa and Lisbeth's outfits. Their two rings were glowing very brightly on their fingers. Asuna had never seen them glow like that, and it was almost as if they were wanting to be seen.

Asuna went to take hers off, but then heard a swift noise as a super-fast arrow of brown and gold flew by her invisible head and into one of the spiders attacking Leafa.

Then, the crew of other spiders lunging in on her friends suddenly found themselves with a new set of priorities as they all ran off in the opposite direction south. At that time the three girls were also joined by several dozen elves, all of which came in very elaborate entrances.

Once again Asuna took a deep breath and went to remove her ring, until she noticed the group of elves seemed to act a bit differently from the ones in the care of Kayaba and Rivendell. These ones also acted a bit more defensive as they held up their weapons to the heavily armed Leafa and Lisbeth, until one with a golden headband stepped forward.

"Well, it looks like we are visited from elves of the west. Tell me, do you come from Lindon or Rivendell?"

"Uh…?" Leafa started hanging onto her words, and Lisbeth was completely speechless, until one taller elf emerged from behind riding a large white elk.

"Captain, don't you know a Galadhrim elf when you see one? This one has hair the same as the mallorn trees in Lothlórien, which only shows us that…" He then stopped as his eyes came fully focused on Leafa and her face.

Then, Leafa lowered her weapon as she too seemed to recognize the man sitting on top of the elk, and she also knew he wasn't an NPC like the captain or the others. He was very tall, and had an older, handsome face. He also had a head of forest green hair, and two eyes that looked like they could pierce through steel.

Finally Lisbeth lowered her mace and raised an eyebrow. "Um, Leafa…do you know this guy?"

Leafa kept her sword lowered, but her lip started to quiver in a fit of rage as soon as she looked his way.

"I do know him…his name is _Sigurd_. He's from ALO, and he used to be a Sylph…before he betrayed us."

Sigurd, the man sitting atop the white elk rolled his eyes and put away his own sword. "Right…I figured that was you, _Leafa_ …so might I ask why you're here inside MEO?"

Leafa raised her weapon again. "I can ask you the same thing, you creep! What are you still following me?"

Sigurd raised a hand and put it on the handle of his weapon. "Leafa I do not have time for your immaturity. I am a new employee for _Mystic Gaming_ , and I have a mission to complete for my supervisors."

Leafa swung her elven blade harshly in the air. "What? You gonna find a way to turn their company secrets over to a rival?"

Sigurd rolled his eyes. "Not quite…I'm here to defeat the dragon Smaug, and I do not need any distractions coming from amateurs like yourselves."

Lisbeth laughed and twirled her mace around. "HA! Join the club pal, the three of us are getting to him first!"

Sigurd raised an eyebrow and looked around. "Three of you…? I'm sorry can I not count, or are you lying to me?"

"What? No there are three of us right…" Lisbeth and Leafa both turned all over the grove to find Asuna, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't have time for this, and my men are starting to get weaker here in the Mirkwood." Sigurd snapped at his elven warriors and turned his elk around. He then had his elven warriors grab Leafa and Lisbeth by their upper arms and walk them right behind him as they moved for the east.

"You both can brief me on your little games over a generous meal at my palace. If you wish to join my cause I'll gladly invite you, but for now I won't let you stop me from defeating that boss." Sigurd informed his two "guests" about their new arrangement, and as their party faded into the distance there appeared to be several unseen footsteps following them closely from behind.

Finally, the still invisible Asuna started running with a determined look on her face as she chased down her friends and their captors. _"Okay guys…looks like you gotta handle being captured just one more time_."

* * *

 **So another old and creepy face from the SAO series reemerges, and this time it's Sigurd...he was the douchy Sylph general that pissed Leafa off and tried betraying their city to join the Salamanders, and it looks like he's found a new game after being banished from the Sylphs. We'll see how Leafa and Lisbeth handle his smooth talk, and for that matter Asuna...?**

 **Comment and review!**


	11. 11: The Woodland Realm

**Author's Note: Here's number 11! I'll get right to it...so enjoy!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

The Woodland Realm

 _"In a great cave some miles within the edge of Mirkwood on its eastern side there lived at this time their greatest king."_

― J.R.R. Tolkien, _The Hobbit_

* * *

"So this is Mirkwood, huh? Eh…it kinda smells rotten."

Klein wafted the foggy stench of the sick trees out of his face as he stood on the western edge of the great Mirkwood Forest. However, he seemed to have a new look about him now that he and the party were this far into the game.

After visiting Rivendell and gaining more experience in the Misty Mountains Klein was now wearing a reward outfit that fit his race's class. He wore sleek new cloth and leather Ranger of the North armor, but the standard green hood and cloak was now died red to match one of his favorite colors. He also had the hood down, and kept a red bandana tied around his head. Finally, he still had his new _Orcrist_ blade equipped to his side, and a determined smile on his face as he readied himself for a new leg of the journey.

"Yea, this place can be pretty creepy. So how's about everyone keeps their guard up." With him was the same party as before. Agil wore heavy dark blue dwarven armor he bought from a trader out of the Blue Mountains who was travelling in Bree, while Chrysheight still had his light blue wizarding robes on from before.

Sinon was still with them, as were Silica and Recon. Sinon had light elven armor she earned from Rivendell, but it actually fit the same dark style as her brethren of the Woodland Realm (The same elves who live inside the forest they're about to visit.) Silica had light leather armor that was probably meant for riding horses through the Riddermark, but Silica hated heavy armor so she just wore it for the style. Finally Recon had light armor on as well, but only because his Halfling stealth perk could only be maximized with lighter clothing.

Now, as they all stand in wait, Sinon walks forward and touched one of the outer tree trunks. "These trees look really sick. Is this some magic forest or something?"

Silica nodded, and looked to the sky. "Yea it has to be something. Every bird I've seen has been flying out of the forest, and none have flown in."

Agil shrugged and bobbed his head back and forth. "Eh, it's sort of haunted, but it's also just naturally creepy. That's what happens with really old forests in fantasies, ya know?"

Chrysheight nodded. "I'd say so. This will be quite the extensive leg of our journey…"

"Yea it will!" Klein beat him to the next words as he went walking into the forest. "Time ta catch the others and see if we can't kill the…"

"Hold on…this won't be a normal mission. "Chrysheight held up his hand to open a menu, and as he did Klein stopped walking and the others turned to face him.

The wizard continued by opening up a large map. "It appears that we are in fact on the edge of the Mirkwood Forest. To the other side, we'll find the Long Lake, the ruins of Dale, and the Lonely Mountain, Erebor. This would put us rather close to beating the demo would it not?"

Recon scratched his head in confusion. "Um, yea I guess it would?"

Chrysheight grinned and ignored the confused look on his face. "The correct answer is yes. However, none of us know what truly awaits the victors of the demo. Kayaba insisted it takes us into the real game, and Annatar has been telling the other new characters that as well, but…this still seems weird."

"What do you mean?" Silica asked with a worried expression.

Chrysheight gestured to the southern half of the map with his finger. "If that's the case, than this entire area of the map is being reserved for that second game battle. This 'War of the Ring' objective will open up the entire game world…which could mean enemies are travelling throughout the north as we speak."

Klein scratched his head. "Define 'enemies'."

Chrysheight turned to Agil. "Tell me Andrew, what do you know of _Dol Guldur_?"

Agil raised his eyebrows and rubbed his chin. "Hmm, well in the movies, that's the home of one of the bad guys. This guy is pretty wicked. Actually…he might be the dude who uses the rings against Frodo and the others later one!"

Chrysheight made no more hesitations and manually placed a place marker over the location "Dol Guldur." He then shut his map and jumped back on his horse.

"Very well, it would seem that we must split our party of 6 into two teams of 3. Since Asuna and the others are on their way to Erebor as well, we won't need all of us there to meet her." He then looked to the resident elf of the group. "Sinon, you'll lead Silica and Recon to Lake-town, and find Asuna and the others from there. Meanwhile Andrew, Klein and I will all head south to Dol Guldur for further investigation."

Sinon widened her eyes and froze. "We're going to the boss without you guys? But I figured you or Agil would have the best information on his stats."

Chrysheight rounded his horse and shrugged. "I am quite limited to what information I carry, and Agil and I haven't played the game have we? I'm sure between the six of you, you'll know exactly what to do." He then nodded to an accepting Agil and a still confused Klein, who both jumped on their horses to follow the plan.

Then Chrysheight raised his horse reins and waved. "Don't worry! If you stay on the forest road, you're horses might be able to fit! Also Sinon gets perks inside Mirkwood, so I'm sure she'll guide you all to safety."

Then, he and the other two warriors turned and road for the south, and left a bewildered Sinon, Silica, and Recon all alone on the northern edge of the Mirkwood.

Silica sighed. "Well, he sure put a lot on your shoulders, Sinon. You okay?"

Recon looked too worried to say anything, and Sinon sighed as she jumped back on her thin white horse and drew her bow.

Finally she marched her mount to the forest road and spoke with a sarcastic tone. "Yea, well I'll make sure to get the kill shot on the boss, _just_ for him."

* * *

Now, we find two other elves from the rescue team in need of their own little rescue inside the great dining hall of the Woodland Realm elves. Here Leafa and Lisbeth sit as unwanted guests inside the palace of Thranduil, Lord of the Woodland Elves, only Thranduil wasn't in the game.

Here, this high born elf was played by none other than the former second in command of the Sylph race of _Alfheim Online_ , Sigurd. Sigurd was known as a head conspirator of a despicable plan from ALO involving the Salamanders and Sylphs from the first game. He tried tricking several heads of state into making treaties, and then attempted to ambush his own team in order to earn allegiance with another.

Now, he sits with one of his most hated "fans" as Leafa eyes him with pure anger from a crossed the table. Lisbeth is seated next to her with an equally angry face as their quickly served a generous meal they truly didn't ask for.

"Okay creep. Tell me what you're doing in MEO?" Leafa was not about to waste any time inside Sigurd's presence. She had a busy schedule and a missing cousin who needed to be found, and this was the last person she wanted to see.

Sigurd rolled his eyes and drank from a golden cup of red wine. "Relax Leafa, enjoy a meal for a little bit while I'm still in a good mood."

Lisbeth sat up. "Did you ever think to ask why Leafa's playing this game also? We don't have time for this crap!"

Sigurd raised an eyebrow "Very well, 'Lisbeth' is it? Tell me, why did I find the two of you wondering around MEO? You mentioned you were on the way to defeat Smaug, but I have a feeling something else drove you here…"

Leafa narrowed her vision. "Why do you say that?"

Sigurd scowled and grabbed his wine cup. "Why? Well there is one obvious answer…I don't see that _Spriggan_ with you. I can imagine he went in with the first group?"

Leafa and Lisbeth felt their ears grow slightly more alert as they each sat up further in their seat. Leafa then spoke up. "You know about them?"

Sigurd cracked a smile. "The failures? Yea I know about them. Annatar gave them one mission, to finish the demo...those idiots never even made it to the Long Lake."

"…" Leafa and Lisbeth's jaws were about to drop, and then Lisbeth sat up again. "Hold on, we heard from a friend they took a weird route. He said they may have went through that gold forest you mentioned earlier?"

Sigurd sounded intrigued. "Hmm, well that would be an interesting route to take. They were being guided by that fool Klint. He's a very odd kid…anyway their journey apparently stopped in the middle of the Mirkwood, much like yourselves, but yes they did take the odd path from the south. I guess they did come from Lothlórien…from the south…?"

"Anyway that's when they met an unknown obstacle. No one's…" Sigurd slowed his sentence down as a shadow seemed to pass over his now-troubled face.

He stopped with this uncomfortable look frozen in time as Leafa stood up. "What? No one's what!?"

Sigurd sighed and sat back in his large end chair. "No one's seen or heard from them since. Annatar said he's lost their place markers, and even worse he hasn't seen Klint in the real world either."

Lisbeth's jaw was trembling, and Leafa was now shaking and leaning on her hands as they pressed against the table.

"And to think they put Annatar's rings to waste…" Sigurd sighed and stood from his chair. "Anyway that is why I was given the title here in Mirkwood. I was placed here to protect journeying players from making the same mistake they did. If you want I plan on making my first assault for Erebor tomorrow. I _suppose_ I can…"

Leafa stopped him there, and she also sounded like a tear was falling from her eye. "I'm sorry, I thought you said something funny…did you just say they made a _mistake_?"

Sigurd turned to face her with no comment. Then Leafa finished.

"Kirito? Mistake? No…he would have gotten them all out of there. Sigurd I think you're an idiot, and whoever put you here is trying to trick you."

"Agh…!" Sigurd looked angry to hear that, and as he tried mustering a defense Lisbeth stood and grabbed Leafa's arm.

"You think it was Annatar? I haven't seen him since the Shire…Man I bet he's behind it somehow."

Leafa wiped her tiny tear from her eye. "It makes sense. That would explain those creepy rings. Now we just need to find Asuna and…"

"SILENCE!"

Sigurd slammed a fist on the table, and as Leafa and Lisbeth gasped all the guards in the room raised arms.

Sigurd then brushed his shoulder pads on his chest plate and sighed. "You've always been so naïve, Leafa. I'll let you put faith in that idiot Spriggan, but I will _not_ let you blasphemy my name in my new position." He then raised a hand and signaled for half the guards to escort Lisbeth and Leafa out of his sights.

"Until you change your attitude I'll let you rot in the black cells! But do _NOT_ think about leaving until you adjust your attitude!"

"AGH! SIGURD YOU ASS!" Leafa tried running forward with a sword drawn, but the guards grabbed her by the arms and dragged her though the doors. Lisbeth also struggled as she and Leafa were seized and walked out of the dining room.

Finally, Sigurd sat and listened to their echoing pleas of anger as he sipped on the last bit of his wine. However as he did, the elven Lord had one quote from Lisbeth stuck in his head.

 _"_ _You think it was Annatar? I haven't seen him since the Shire…Man I bet he's behind it somehow."_

"Hmm, the GM?" Sigurd pondered for a moment before placing his empty cup on the table. "I suppose it's time I pay him a visit. Maybe there is more to him than meets the eye…"

Meanwhile as Leafa and Lisbeth were being dragged further and further back through the Woodland Halls, they kicked and screamed the entire way as the empty black cells passed them on every side.

"AGH!" Leafa yelled out while she tried kicking one of the guard's arms. "STUPID NPCS! WE NEED TO SAVE KIRITO!"

"TOTALLY!" Lisbeth yelled out as she tried throwing one of her arms forward. "WE GOTTA FIND ASUNA ND GET THE HELL OUT OF HEAR BEFORE…"

"AGH!" One of the NPC guards let out a yell and fell to the ground in an unconscious manor as an elven pot laid broken beside his head. Then the train of captives came to an end as the one grabbing Leafa suffered the same incident, then Lisbeth's.

Finally, as Leafa and Lisbeth looked around with a startled face, their third party member walked around the corner holding their confiscated weapons with a smile.

"Don't ask how…just follow me to Erebor."

Leafa and Lisbeth both lit up with smiles as they gave her a hug, and before Leafa went to actually ask her how she did it, Lisbeth followed Asuna's suggestion and grabbed her missing mace.

"Hell yea! I'm totally in now!"

Asuna laughed and nodded back. "Awesome! Now let's keep moving. Yui told me about some really big barrels we're supposed to find in the wine cellar. I guess we're supposed to hide in them and let the elves take us on a carriage to Lake-Town?"

Lisbeth laughed. "Carriage? Man sounds long, but I guess it's better than walking!"

Asuna started laughing as they ran down the stairs. "Yea, she mentioned something about a river, but I told her that can't be right! I guess we'll see once we find them…"

Then, the three adventurers found themselves back on track as they planned a quick escape from the Woodland Realm and onto the next location—Lake-Town.

 _However, something else was stirring deep within the dark forests of Mirkwood, in the long-forgotten castle of Dol Guldur…_

* * *

"Hmm…Those girls have made it all the way to Sigurd? That's actually quite impressive. I like their attitude."

The Lord of Gifts, Annatar himself was sitting in the center of an old tower as he looked to a GM console and had his world map pulled up for view. He was originally looking down at some activity in the south with other employees, but now his newest hire Sigurd had just made some intriguing contact with Asuna and her three friends.

"The Elven heroines…I wonder how their rings are holding up…?" Annatar questioned the idea as he stroked three empty fingers on his own right hand. " _Narya_ the Ring of Fire, _Nenya_ the Ring of Adamant, and _Vilya_ the Ring of Might. These were the three most powerful objects I had crafted for any player, and I truly hope I put them in the right hands…"

Before he went to say anything else to himself in the blacks of his control tower, it appeared that another employee had just made an entrance.

"Ah, the GM is finally hard at work?" Said a voice from the corridor entrance.

Annatar turned his head and laughed as soon as he saw his guest. "Oberon. Glad to see your quest didn't end with an untimely defeat…wouldn't that be tragic to see you fall so quickly from your entrance into the company ranks?"

Sugō, or Oberon in the gaming world laughed and waved a hand. "Oh heavens, you don't take me for an amateur, do you? I know the rules of the game…dying locks me and my avatar's data out of the game. That is until I secure my own copy of course."

He then looked to Annatar and raised an eyebrow. "And since you possess the only copy of MEO, I suppose a return into the game is almost hopeless for any dead players, until you put it on full release…which will never happen if you don't have a team defeat that dragon and finish your Beta Test."

Annatar rolled his eyes. "Oh calm down, sure my first team had an untimely failure, but they _did_ have that extra important side quest…anyway my second team seems to be faring pretty well so far. See for yourself."

Annatar then pointed out to Asuna, Lisbeth, and Leafa's cursers as they left down a windy river from the Elf King's hall and into the ends of Mirkwood. As he showed the progress, he then gestured halfway through the forest where Sinon was leading Silica and Recon as well.

However, before he looked any further south, Oberon snapped his fingers. "Oh I almost forgot…I found something for you."

Annatar looked intrigued as he turned to his underling, and in the short period of wait he was greeted with a very bizarre sight as Sugō pulled out a white ring in a band of pure shining silver.

Right then, Annatar's upper lip started twitching. "Oberon…what is that?"

Sugō grinned and raised a hand, knowing fully well he was holding Asuna's ring _Nenya_ from the beginning. "Relax, before you get confused…I found it on the floor of the caves in the Misty Mountains. It was lying in a pile of dirt. I tracked the girls like you asked, and they got ambushed by those goblins. It must have fallen or something."

Annatar took the ring with a swipe of his hand and looked Sugō dead in the eye. "And what about the _actual ring_ I sent you to get? I suppose you never found it?"

Sugō smirk quickly changed to a frown. "No sir…I'm afraid it wasn't there."

"…" Annatar paused for a moment before he slammed his fist on the off button of his GM console to turn off the controls. His map was still up, but he simply charged through the hologram in a fit of rage.

"That ring has no reason of being anywhere else! If you're lying to me I swear by all my company's power I'll…!"

Sugō stopped him there. "I understand sir, but I told you it wasn't there." He then raised an eye brow. "But if I may…do you really need it?"

Now Annatar was starting to feel insulted. "Have you…have you been paying attention at all?! You were the one who gave me the programs from your last project inside ALO. That ring will help me…you know what, I don't have time for this." The Lord of Gifts started breathing heavily and took a deep sigh as he now saw three extra figures riding south for his position.

It was Agil, Klein, and Chrysheight, and they appeared to be riding very fast.

Annatar then rubbed his brow and spoke loud and clear. "Very well, if you are telling me the truth…then the only place those cowering hackers would have programmed it to fall was the lower fords of the Anduin, right out of Ithilien. The mini-quest has it strictly set as under the High Pass in the Misty Mountains, but that was the original location to obtain it. They may have programmed it to go back there."

Sugō understood, but then leaned over to look at the map. "And what about them? Are you just going to let them see your little set up?"

Annatar cracked his fingers and re-opened his GM console.

"Not quite…I feel it's time to let the final results of our first project accept their first mission."

* * *

 **So we finally get a look inside Annatar's stuff...and he's been hanging with Sugou! Well we'll have to pick back up on Monday with the resolve for next chapter!**

 **(BTW Sugou mentioned something interesting about what happens when you die in game...)**


	12. 12: A Group Divided

**Author's Note: Welcome back! This chapter is going to have us jumping around, I guess we have a lot of characters on the move!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

A Group Divided

 _"No, Gandalf, 'tis not. A dark power dwells in there. Such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf, from out of the darkness..."_

― Radagast, The Hobbit: _An Unexpected Journey_

* * *

"BLAH…! I can't…I can't ride in that thing for one more second…"

Lisbeth cried out in misery as her lidless barrel from the Woodland Realm slowly floated from the river out of Mirkwood into the lower falls west of the Long Lake. She would have preferred to use a boat for the journey, but the only thing her and the others could find were large, open, wine barrels inside the lower storage rooms of the Elven Palace.

Meanwhile, Asuna and Leafa rolled up beside her with equally distressed expressions covering their faces as well. Asuna poured out of hers just like Lisbeth did as soon as they hit the shore, and Leafa turned to cast a single golden dagger over the waterfall behind them to kill one last orc scout that happened to be chasing them.

"Those creepy little…man Sigurd didn't even bother to help us! Some protector of the forest he is…"

Asuna nodded as she stood up to catch her breath. "I know, but we don't have time to question it. The sooner we get to Erebor the better."

"Yea…" Lisbeth agreed as she started ringing out her lower cloak. "I just want a new set of cloths, and maybe some better food than what we have."

Leafa sighed. "Yea, we probably could have gotten away with stealing some while we were in those kitchen rooms…hehe."

Asuna re-fastened a new elf sword she found in the halls and strapped it onto her belt. "Yea, well I think we took enough. We'll get food in Lake-town before we leave for the north." She then started marching towards the actual shores of the Long Lake without any further hesitation.

Lisbeth and Leafa both stood up and ran after her, while the former yelled her name. "Asuna slow down! We know we're in a hurry, but we need to think of a plan before we start this thing!"

Asuna never turned around. "We're fine. We can do that in Lake-town."

Leafa sighed. "Asuna none of us know what's in Lake-town. What if they're bad guys? What if they're another employee for _Mystic Gaming_?"

"What if that creepy Annatar guy is there…eww." Lisbeth felt an unwanted chill run down her spine as she started dusting off her shoulders like something was on them.

Asuna shrugged as she looked down the shores for a dock or port. "Then I suppose we'll have the perfect opportunity to ring his neck, or pick his brain about Kirito." She then picked a direction and started walking slightly north along the shore.

However before she took a single further step Leafa ran up and grabbed her on the arm.

"Asuna…are you okay?" Leafa looked worried for her friend, and waited for a response.

Asuna turned with an apologetic face. "I think I am? I'm…I'm sorry if I'm starting to act crazy guys…I just really want to end this quest. I want him back…" She turned away and looked down in the murky grey waters of the Long Lake with her saddened expression still firm on her face.

Lisbeth ran up beside Leafa and smiled. "Asuna we're going to get him back! I mean it's like you said, Kirito's gonna give us a tour of the map once we find him, right?"

Asuna then looked up and turned to face her now smiling two friends. She then paused for a moment before finding a smile take her own face and gave them a firm nod.

"Right."

* * *

While Asuna and her team re-collected their strength and thoughts, we now come to find three fast-paced riders soaring down the borders of the western Mirkwood Forest. The three horses flew like birds up and down the hills and streams coming off the forest's edge, and as they started coming up to the end, the center rider yelled out to his comrades.

"OKAY! We're well past the Narrows, which means the entrance into Dol Guldur should be in this patch of forest!" Chrysheight tried to keep his voice loud to yell over the horses running as he commanded his friends.

Agil nodded and looked ahead. "I don't think we'll be riding these guys in the forest though! Those trees look pretty thick!"

Klein agreed. "Ah all's it'd take is a nice slice from our swords! We could take the horses if we really wanted to!"

Chrysheight laughed, but slowed his mount down as they approached the green. "True, but I believe we'll stick with Andrew's idea."

Agil laughed. "Man, I told you call me Agil. Can't have this formal stuff when we go into battle." Agil tried to let out a laugh for the group as they all stopped and stared at the dark and depressing trees.

Klein sighed. "Man, this place looks worse than up north…I bet it has to do with that creepy castle you guys were talking about."

"Yes…" Chrysheight nodded and jumped off his horse. "Very well, let's make a quick run to the target, and see if we can't find any clues to our missing friend Kirito."

Then, Agil and Klein followed, and together the three warriors ventured into the dark unknown of the southern Mirkwood.

Now several moments later, the party came a crossed a far hillier landscape throughout the lower woods, and as they start climbing Klein spoted an eerie sight up ahead.

"Whoa, check out that creep tower!" He says with a point of his finger as he signals to the tallest gnarled tower of Dol Guldur in the distance.

Agil nodded. "Yep. Looks just like the one form the film. This place is givin' me the creeps all over again!"

Chrysheight nodded too, but he also slammed his brown wooden staff into the ground as a result, which flickered on a bright blue light at the top.

"Very well, Shall we?"

Now well past a point of return, the investigating party ventured over the old, stone bridge that connected one hill to the mainland citadel of Dol Guldur.

The rocky walls looked blackened over time, and bits of green moss and overgrowth could be seen all around the fallen ruins of the forgotten fortress. Its towers stood slightly taller than some of the trees, but this was only because Dol Guldur sat atop the old bald hill of the Great Greenwood past. Now, the ramparts and watchtowers looked like they were beaten over time and weathered down to nubs as they stood no higher than a few feet above the neighboring canopy.

As Chrysheight led his task force into the forgotten stronghold, Agil and Klein kept their weapons ready for any possibility of an attack. They expected to find orcs here, due to Agil's recollection of the second _Hobbit_ film, but once inside the maze-like structure of elder stone, no sign of life appeared to exist at all.

"Okay, this place has to have something! I'm getting bad guy vibes just by walking around!" Klein twirled his _Orcrist_ around in a readied stance as she kept behind Agil and Chrysheight in the back of the party, and as he did Agil and Chrysheight kept their eyes peeled in front for any signs of movement or action.

Finally, the three venturing warriors came a crossed a circular opening under part of an older, taller watch tower. It looked like a keep of some sort, and it almost looked like it could have housed a pretty important building.

Then, the party slowed down and looked around as the cloudy sky was directly overhead, and this gave Klein time to pick Agil's brain.

"So buddy, what exactly hides inside Dol Guldur in the movie again? I watched them when I was younger, but I could barely pay attention."

Agil raised an eyebrow. "Man weren't you like 14 or something? You could probably remember it just fine."

Klein scratched his head. "Yea? Hmm…well I did go to a lot of movies, but ya know…didn't really watch them hehe."

Chrysheight and Agil both laughed, and Agil shook his head. "Dol Guldur was home to the _Necromancer_. I think he's supposed to be the main bad guy from the Lord of the Rings too, but I forget…Anyway Gandalf the wizard guy rides in to see what's here for himself and he finds some creepy things, one of which is a massive orc army."

Chrysheight looked around, and kept his ear open to hear nothing but silence. "Well, there aren't any armies here."

Agil started scratching his chin. "Lemmie think then…I remember a big battle with Gandalf and some baddies too, he had some help, but I forget who they…"

He then opened his eyes with an alert expression as sweat started forming over his brow. "I remember now, they weren't ordinary bad guys…"

Agil started remembering as he looked into a darkened wall of stone, but as he did Klein and Chrysheight were now distracted by an eerie cloud of black smoke and thick fog coming from over the stony hill below. Klein raised his sword and took a big gulp as Chrysheight did the same, only he tried to continue the conversation with Agil.

"These bad guys, were they normal orcs, or something else?"

Agil almost laughed. "Nah, these things were much nastier. They were kinda like ghosts, but they were armored, and they wore black cloaks in the sequel films."

"Ah man, we talkin about phantoms or something?" Klein shook as he had no patience to wait and see what was creeping over the hill.

Chrysheight nodded. "I believe so. The man who dwells here was supposedly dubbed the _Necromancer_ , which easily translates into 'Sorcerer of the Dead'."

Agil stopped them both and shook his head. "Nah man, they weren't regular ghosts either. They were more like… _wraiths_."

He then kept his head low and turned around. "And there wasn't just one of them either, there were…." He looked up and as he did Chrysheight finished the sentence.

"Nine."

Just then, nine hooded figures dressed in all-black stood in a circle around the three warriors. Klein, and Chrysheight had their weapons ready, and now Agil was prepared for battle as well, but the overcoming menace approaching them was far too quick for a full reaction.

Now at the same time, the nine figures drew the same looking, dark steel swords and pointed them at their intruding foes. The first few lunged forward and stabbed at the 3 party members, but just then Chrysheight slammed his staff down to the ground again and sent a large light blue sphere of light shining all over the battlefield.

The ball of light quickly faded, but it was just enough time to let Agil and Klein run forward and combat four of the enemies. Meanwhile Chrysheight continued by shining blue light in the others' faces and occasionally fought some of them with his hardened blade of steel, _Glamdring_.

Round after round the three heroes fought off the nine shadows in a perilous battle. Two would move quickly to strike, but Klein would deliver a powerful slicing move to knock them back, but the result did little actual damage to the nearly impervious enemies.

Agil too started by lowering his heavy two-sided battle axe hard on their heads, but the much faster enemies of shadow deflected his weaker attacks and sliced up his arms rather harshly, severely injuring his off hand.

Now Chrysheight was in the middle of fighting off the bulk of the force, but at that same moment he stopped to collect the scene in his mind. _"These are not ordinary NPC foes, they're far too organized…someone knew we were coming."_

Without a second hesitation Chrysheight spun his staff around and shot a powerful blue beam into the chest of the nearest attacker. He then continued warding off five of the others at the same time and yelled to his allies. "These foes aren't completely unstoppable, but we need to defeat them quickly! I fear we're being targeted!"

Agil agreed as he was now handling his two with relative ease, even with an injured left arm. "No kidding! They're a lot weaker than I expected them to be!"

Then, both players got worried as Klein never made a similar response, and as they looked, although Klein appeared to be only fighting one now, the single enemy was giving him quite the stress.

"Agh, yea…mine…isn't that easy!" Klein apparently defeated one of his two with ease as he was now off to the side coughing a black cloud out of his mysterious hooded face. Meanwhile the other was using sword skills that appeared to be out of this world as he blocked and parried every single attack Klein through his way.

Klein also noticed that although the wraith's sword was thinner, it was also longer, and straighter than _Orcrist_ , which meant Klein should have been dealing faster attacks. Sadly their swords were hitting as equals step by step as the two swordsmen perilously fought back and forth.

Then, Klein finally got the upper hand just as the wraith was backing him up to an edge, and as he swung to hit, the wicked grey steel sword lost a fight with Orcrist and flew out of the shadow's hand.

Klein laughed for a brief moment of victory as he looked to see a cliff drop-off right behind his feet, until the wraith grabbed him by the neck and tossed him into a nearby stone wall with a tremendous force.

Now, Klein tried to stand up, but just then the shadow drew his second weapon out from his cloak of black, and as he did Klein's expression changed from readied to absolute shock.

"No way…"

The fiery swordsman was now left speechless as the tall, shadowy wraith stood in front of him wielding the very same sword, the _Elucidator_ from SAO, that his best friend Kazuto Kirigaya once wielded many games ago.

Completely astonished, Klein quickly made a judgement call on the towering shadow's figure. "No way…this monster's too tall…that ain't Kirito...it can't be…"

The wraith left him no time to continue thinking it over as he lowered his thin _Elucidator_ and stabbed Klein right in the right pectoral, warranting a loud and painful scream from the wounded warrior as he laid there and felt virtual blood pouring from his body.

Agil turned, but took the butt of a sword to the head and nearly fell over. Chrysheight then saw that Agil eventually did fall over as he also took a metal fist from the shadowy foe's gauntlet right to the stomach, and as he was now left with 7 enemies ready for attack, the wizard quickly began reciting an incantation, followed by a verbal demand.

"I wish to speak with your master! SHOW ME THE GAME MASTER!"

The seven wraiths raised their arms and prepared to strike Chrysheight with darkened steel, but as they did a cracking sound took the air, and they all lowered in a passive manor, and quickly sheathed their blades.

Chrysheight got a quick glance at the center figure, who was in-fact sheathing the _Elucidator_ under his robe, and then the line of seven parted as a new, more brightly colored figure took the room.

"Seijirō? HA! What a surprise! I need to ask you, now that I finally have the chance…where the hell is my ring?"

* * *

Several hundred miles north, the party of Sinon, Silica, and Recon were now riding along the very long bridge that entered into Lake-town, and as they did the tiny Silica looked ahead.

"This place looks nice…I guess. Is that the Lonely Mountain up ahead?" She pointed past the older looking town of solid brown as a single peak of grey and white towered in the distance.

Recon shrugged. "I guess so, looks lonely to me."

Sinon nodded. "That's it. I don't see another one like it anywhere else, and Seijirou said it was supposed to be right in this part of the map."

Silica then took a big gulp as she now realized how big Lake-town appeared. "Oh wow…I hope we can find Asuna and the others really soon."

As the three party members journeyed throughout the town, they quickly found a trail of confetti lined in the major streets and canal walkways in the center of the town. This left them all puzzled, and triggered Sinon to ask around to several nearby NPCs.

"Well that parade for the heroes was awfully fun, it's a shame you missed it! They're probably all suited up for the fight against the dragon now. I can't even imagine how scared they are!"

"Great." Sinon sighed. "We missed them…"

Silica ran ahead, and noticed the road off in the distant hills was completely barren. "You don't suppose they're fighting him already, do you?"

Sinon looked around and took a judgement by the large crowd of NPCs still gathered in the streets. "No, but they did send out all the NPCs into the courtyards, which opens up several nice mini-quests ready for harvesting."

Then, Sinon started walking around and collecting all the information she could about Erebor and the mysteries within. She had played enough RPGs to know when it came down to big boss fights, the neighboring town or settlement always had good tips and hints going in.

Finally, after finding a nice local tavern, she, Silica, and Recon all found a table to collect their notes.

"Well the dragon sounds pretty hard to beat." Recon said, over-stating the obvious. "I guess his scales are like steel armor, and his fire attack can kill ten players in one hit."

Silica nodded. "Yea, and I guess his wings are powerful enough to blow a swarm of attacking players clear out of the battle! I bet he can fly really high too!"

Sinon nodded, but she held a different look on her face. "Yea, but I heard there's one little weakness on his lower hide, just under his left wing."

Silica leaned forward. "Oh yea! I heard there's a missing scale, or jewel or something that's just big enough for an arrow to pierce through! Sinon that's perfect for a one-shot archer like you!"

Sinon smiled from the compliment, but sighed with more of the explanation. "Thanks, but I also heard no ordinary arrow can be used to do it. You have to have some weird special black arrow."

Finally Recon joined the conversation, but his face seemed to offer more guilt than anything. "U-um, did you say _special black arrow_ …?"

Sinon and Silica both turned their heads to see Recon was now opening his item menu, and as he did the small Halfling then turned his menu screen to let Sinon read it from the other side of the table.

"This is…this is the _Black Arrow of Dale_ everyone in town has talked about! Where did you get this!?"

Recon sighed. "Oh man…I was looking around at the city hall with you guys for clues, but then I got dragged off to some random house owned by this Bard guy? Anyway the Bard character wasn't in the game yet, but the mission ended with me finding the arrow in his house."

Silica took the screen and read the flavor text. "No way, it says this arrow can be aimed right at the small open spot on Smaug's lower body, and then it will have an instant kill!"

Sinon scratched her chin. "Yea, which means Annatar probably didn't want to add it in by choice, so he hid it as a non-required secret mission in hopes players wouldn't find it."

Recon then looked to Sinon. "So do you think you can use it?"

"I dunno…" Sinon pondered for a moment. "Pull it out on the table."

Recon sighed and did as she commanded, but when he did the large rod of solid black steel slammed down on the old wooden table and nearly broke it into two long pieces of wood. Sinon then tried lifting it up without putting it in her bag, but it was far too heavy to lift with normal strength.

"Not gonna happen. I can't fire this thing from my bow." She looked down with a near defeated face, but then looked out the window to find several dozen other elves like her walking through the streets.

"Oh no, Sigurd is here!?" Recon looked too and found his old guild leader riding a large, obnoxious white elk through the streets as he appeared to be readying an army.

Silica bit her lip. "Oh man, that dude looks like he's gonna fight Smaug! Do you think he'll stop Asuna and the others?"

Sinon looked right at Recon. "Recon do you know that guy?"

Recon nodded reluctantly. "Yea I know him…lousy scum bag. He ruined my old party from the original ALO. He and Leafa hated each other. I bet he's working with Annatar's company since he got kicked out of the Sylph army. He probably followed Leafa to the Mountain."

Silica started counting the elves and cringed. "Oh no there are so many of them out there! I hear they hate dwarves! That Lonely Mountain is supposed to be the dwarves home!"

Sinon shook her head. "Relax, that doesn't mean there are dwarves inside it. It's just an abandoned…"

Right then Sinon stopped and remembered the stories she heard about dwarves in the world of the _Lord of the Rings_. She knew they were excellent miners and warriors, but they were ultimately famous for their craftsmanship and smithing skills as well.

Finally Sinon packaged up the _Black Arrow_ item and sent it to Silica in a private message, which prompted a worried reaction from the small Rohirric horse rider.

"What are you doing!?" Silica asked with a nervous attitude.

Sinon stood from her table. "Easy, that arrow is too big to use with my normal bow, but it's also made of metal…right now the best black smith I know is heading for the most famous dwarf kingdom in the game, and there's probably going to be a forge there with her…"

She then took the rest of her drink, downed it one go, and put a hand on Silica's shoulder.

"Recon and I will keep the elves distracted, if they do intend to stop Leafa and the others like he suggests. Meanwhile, you're gonna ride up to Erebor and take that arrow to Lisbeth, and tell her to forge it down to something more useful for my needs. Heck, maybe you'll even help Asuna and Leafa fight the dragon."

Silica started freaking out as she stood up from her table chair. "WHAT!? I-I CAN'T DO THAT!? BY MYSELF!?"

Sinon shrugged. "Why not? You have the fastest horse, and you have the highest riding skill. You also have animal taming abilities from SAO and ALO, and your enemy is a dragon…the same type of creature you call 'best' friend in ALO. As far as I'm concerned you're the _perfect_ person to finish this boss."

She then nodded to Recon. "Plus we have to be here to keep this Sigurd guy from mounting an attack. I share a class with them, and Recon knows the leader, which means we may be able to figure out some info on the rest of the game…" She then smiled and looked to Silica.

"So you ready to ride?"

Recon sat with a frozen face and looked back and forth at the two silent girls. Then, with a long pause and a deep breath, Silica opened her frustrated eyes.

"Fine…but I'm only doing this to save Kirito."

* * *

 **So Asuna and her cronies are on the move, Seijirou has some explaining to do...Klein thinks he's discovered where Kirito's hiding Yay! But...**

 **And finally Sinon seems to be the only one trying to get stuff done, lol jk, they all are! but she is doing well on her group's part none the less.**

 **More tomorrow. Comment and Review!**


	13. 13: Taming A Dragon

**Author's Note: Well here's number 13! This one was very fun and very tricky to write. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

Taming the Dragon

 _"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."_

― J.R.R. Tolkien, _the Hobbit_

* * *

Silica staggered through the chilly alleyways of Lake-town with the lightest footsteps imaginable. Although her sneak skill was not as good as Recon's, she could have fooled anyone as she managed to get by a swarming army of elves and the rowdy NPC lake-folk.

Now, looking for her horse at the near end of the lake bridge, she made one last thought before mounting her steed and setting a course for the north.

 _"_ _Oh man, that dragon we just fought in ALO was just as big I hear, and it took over 40 people to kill it, not to mention Kirito was the one who delivered the final hit!"_ She assumed the worst as she looked to the ground, but then balled her gloved hand into a fist.

 _"_ _Which is why we're gonna beat this one, and bring Kirito back home."_

With a new bout of courage at her side, Silica raced through the broad streets of the center town and flew like wind as she road for the north. Several NPC elf warriors jumped out of the way, but most off to the side stared at her with puzzled emotions.

 _"_ _I don't see that Sigurd guy…"_ She told herself in thought. _"I guess Sinon and Recon got to him first…"_ She then looked ahead and saw one of the elves coming up on her right had a very similar bow to Sinon's

 _"_ _Hmm…my pick-pocketing skill isn't that high…"_

Either way, the tiny horse lord lowered a hand and reached right into the passing elf's quiver to retrieve the golden brown bow, and then stuffed it safely behind and onto her saddle.

"There! Now Lisbeth will have a model bow to mold the arrow for!" And just like that, Silica was out of the north end of Lake-town, and off to the Lonely Mountain.

Now, after passing the fallen city of Dale over the lower foothills, Silica observed the Desolation of Smaug with widened eyes as she passed through fields of ash and ruin.

It looked like something out of a post-apocalyptic video game, but set in the middle-ages. The stone ruins were still smoldered with black ash, and no plants other than short yellow grass covered the hills, only dead, burnt tree trunks that dotted the ridge ways.

"This is so sad. How can fire melt stone anyway? What if this was like a real life…" Silica was too busy morning the imaginary town to catch herself wide-eyed and stopped in awe as she looked ahead to the lower slopes of the Mountain.

"…city." Silica was in disbelief as she looked upon two giant statues of tall, dwarvish soldiers standing in the cutout of the side of the mountain. They also appeared to be guarding an even bigger wall of what looked like gorgeous black steel trimmed in gold and silver. Even from the far distance she was at, the large looming gate of the old dwarf city towered over the entire valley, and it was clear that Erebor was in fact a legendary sight to behold.

"I don't get it, why did they need a secret entrance to get in…?" Silica road her horse a tiny ways to see if there was any sight of her friends, but as she lost focus on the actual gate, her eyes looked up and beyond the left head of the right side dwarf statue, which appeared to have an embankment behind it with flickering lights.

"AH-HA!" Silica then bucked her horse to the edge of the statue, and found a narrow, windy staircase leading to the top, which she bravely followed in order to scout for her missing friends.

Silica passed up the stairway with a long walk to the top, and as she made it there, the tiny knight rounded the corner behind the large helmet of the petrified stone guardian to find a small but noticeable open door leading into a dimly lit cave, with several flickering torch lights heading down a hall.

 _*Gulp*_ Silica followed the path into the upper mountain, and took a deep breath as she ventured further and further into the cave. She then pulled out her _Sting_ blade, and released a sigh of relief once she saw it wasn't glowing blue. As she held her sword high for any other possibility of enemies, Silica turned around every angular corridor and followed every single torch she could in order to guide herself further into the maze under the Lonely Mountain.

After walking for what felt like 20 minutes, Silica now assumed she was at one of the lower-most levels of the staircase, and possibly the entire city. She turned around a wider set of grander stairs, an as she took a step beyond a large octagonal column, her eyes lit up with a sight of natural light, and a world of treasure the likes of which she had never seen.

Gold. A sea of shining, glistening gold. It stretched for what looked like a mile into the mountain hall. It was made of tiny coins, large objects, shining weapons, glistening jewels, and even more highly placed torch light to perfectly capture the treasure in a nice glowing ray.

Silica had no idea what to do as she marched forward completely out of her character and mind. She held her sword lower and lower as he eyes slipped around the entire room filled with wondrous treasures.

And then…she saw a red eye lid buried under a mountain of coins far in the distance.

"Agh…mfhfhf!?"

Silica screamed as soon as she saw the sleeping eye, but her cries were quickly cuffed by a figure from behind, and as she was forced to turn, her eyes found Asuna, Lisbeth, and Leafa looking back at her with fingers over their mouths.

"Quiet!" Lisbeth yelled in a whisper. "You're gonna wake the guy!"

"Ah, sorry…!" Silica whispered as well, but then she shook her head and reached out to hug them all at once. "Wait! I MISSED YOU GUYS!"

The three girls smiled, and Asuna nodded. "We missed you too! What are you doing in MEO!?"

Silica leaned back. "We're all in here! Sinon, Klein, Agil, even that Recon kid from your school Leafa!"

"Oh brother…" Leafa sighed and face-palmed in agony. "Why did he have to tag along!?"

Silica laughed and then looked at Asuna. "Annatar didn't invite us thought, Seijirō did."

"Seijirō?" Asuna looked surprised to hear that name. "Now _he_ has something to do with this?"

Silica shrugged, but then snapped her fingers and opened up her inventory to reveal a large black arrow.

"Here! Let me drop this and…there ya go!"

Lisbeth looked surprised as she received the dropped item from Silica, and inside was a package containing a large black steel bolt shaped like an arrow. "What am I supposed to do with this exactly?"

"Duh!" Silica tapped her on the chest. "Make an arrow for Sinon! Here I have a bow just like hers!" She then sent Lisbeth the stolen bow from the NPC elf in a dropped package as well.

Lisbeth rattled her head. "Whoa, you're tellin me I have to make this, _AND_ all those swords now!?"

"No relax, just make that arrow first…" Asuna laughed and turned to look around the column. "Man, this dragon looks huge! His eye is right _there_ , and his tail ends all the way over _there_!"

"Yea, it looks really terrifying!" Leafa crept to look over Asuna's shoulder.

Silica shrugged. "Well, I guess Sinon suggested you could be the one to take the arrow back to her. Sigurd is in Lake-town, so you may need to talk with him."

"Ugh!" All three girls startled Silica as they simultaneously moaned, and then Leafa explained.

"We already ran in to him, and we were hoping to kill the dragon before he found us…but if Recon is in town with him I suppose things won't go any better without me…"

Right then, Lisbeth started walking back up the stairs to find a smithing forge, but before she left she yelled back to the group. "Hey Silica, why did you come to give me this anyway?"

Silica shrugged and turned back to look at the dragon with Asuna. "I-I…I'm supposed to wake the dragon, I guess…"

"Really!?" Asuna lit up with joy. "Are you a Hobbit!? The game suggested we needed a Hobbit class to sneak down and wake it with ease. Then we can try and kill it from behind by…"

"NO!" Silica yelled in protest. "I'm not a Hobbit! I'm a Rohan Knight!"

"A _what_?" Lisbeth looked confused but then shook her head. "Look, I don't care what you are as long as I don't half to fight the damned thing…also your speech parameter might need to be high. Leafa and Asuna here keep wanting to use invisibility to get close to him, but I know they're just asking to get fried."

"Hmph!" Leafa and Asuna both crossed their arms, while Lisbeth raised hers. "Asuna how can you even us invisibility anyway!?"

"Um…I have a transferred ability from my Undine…hehe." Asuna let out an unintended white lie to further hide her new ring, but before everyone started questioning her powers any further, Silica started walking down into the golden sea.

"Well…I'll be right back I guess?"

Silica tip-toed into the mounds of gold coins, and slowly made her way down the slopes and closer to the sleeping dragon, and while she did her heart suddenly beat faster and faster.

"Okay Silica, you just have to keep it distracted and let Asuna or Leafa sneak around and stab him in his side. Actually if I can find that hole in his scales, we might not even need Sinon's arrow after all." She started to feel confidence filling her veins, but then she felt it all drifting away as soon as she gathered a closer image of the slumbering beast.

"On second thought I'll just let Lisbeth keep working…" Silica kept moving down to get around to the far side of its head, that way it wouldn't see her coming from the obvious staircase to the right.

Silica tried to hold her breath, but it was hard to keep concentration with the loud, thunderous snore coming from the dragon. It sounded like a foul beast was choking and gargling acid at the same time, and every time it breathed she could feel the air and ground grow that much hotter from the fumes.

Then, her boot found a lose pocket of coins, and in a flash of time her foot slipped like a shoe in quicksand. Silica tried pulling it out, but now the trail of pit-falling coins was finding its way all the way over to the dragon's neck, and as the new pocket of air hit is scales, the sleeping eye under the coins suddenly awoke.

"Eeek!" Silica made no more hesitations as she saw it start to move its head, and just like that she bolted for a large golden table and ducked for cover.

The, she could hear, see, and feel pieces of gold flying up into the air as the dragon stretched his mighty wings for all to see. Even in the large cave under the mountain, the dragon looked like it was ready to take the skies, but before it tried flying, the large snake like dragon lowered its head and hissed into the air.

"Well, _thief_ in the shadows, tell me…where are you?" The beast roared a mighty but slow voice over the great dwarven halls, but as no other voice replied to the echo, the dragon hissed again.

"There is no use in hiding at all…I can feel you air. I can hear your breath. I can _taste_ your fear…now tell me…where are you hiding?"

 _"_ _Yikes…!"_ Silica kept all words inside her head as she held on to her sword hiding under her cloak. _"For an NPC dragon, this guy sure is creepy…"_ She tried looking over the tall golden table, but only saw one piece of its large body sitting in the gold.

Then, her eyes widened as she followed its head arching over her own, and as she turned back around, the great yellow eye of Smaug was looking her way.

"There you are…a burglar in the shadows, illuminated by the gold all around you."

Silica raised her hands as if she were forfeiting a sword battle, and as her palms trembled like nothing she'd even felt before, her tiny voice squeaked out a response.

"N-no Mr. Smaug…" She had no idea whether to look into his large, creepy eye, or his terrifying collection of razor sharp teeth. "I don't…I mean I d- _didn't_ come here to steal anything f-from you…"

Smaug's pupil dilated as he collected her words, and then he drew it closer for her to see. "Then why did you come into my domain little, _childish_ , girl?"

He didn't really yell, but the last hiss of his final few words still echoed in an attempt to strike further fear into her heart. However, even in the scariness of it all, Silica continued.

"I…I only came because I really like dragons, a-and I wanted to see if you were the greatest dragon t-this world had to offer…at least that's what I was told?"

Smaug hissed up a laugh. "Did you? Is _that_ why you came? Well, did you also journey here thinking flattery would spare your life?"

"I um…I'm not sure how to answer that…"

Silica admitted the folly, and as she did Smaug let out an utterly horrible laugh that shook the mountain.

"Amusement will not get you out either, though I must admit, the thought of someone like _you_ trying to take even a single piece of my treasure fills my head full of it. Tell me…your armor is that of men from the south, but you do not take me as a knight…more like a tiny, _little_ girl."

There he was again with the "tiny little girl" comment. Silica would have found it more annoying if he wasn't a mountainous fire breathing dragon. As a result, she tried using any pent up anger to fuel her discussion.

"'No, I am a warrior of men, but I also have…other titles."

Smaug raised his head, as if he were finally tuning in. "Well, I do love the sound of this. Tell me little thief, what titles do you claim to possess?"

"I…I…" Silica tried to save herself in a tiny little instant as she still couldn't see Asuna or Leafa walking about the cave.

"I…actually come from another world. I hail from the Land of Fairies…"

"HA!" Smaug roared with a laugh. "You certainly fit the part with such a puny stature…go on?"

Silica started to get angrier. "And I also come from hills…far to the west. I'm a champion of horses? ...Yea! I ride faster than all my companions. I killed many foes to get here too…goblins, uh spiders…"

Smaug opened his mouth to expose more teeth. "Bragging about your murders in the presence of a dragon? Perhaps I should just kill you now…"

"NO!" Silica raised to empty hands. "I'm a lot nicer than that! I am the horse lord…the friend of all creatures? I uh…I am also called the _dragon tamer_."

"Oh...?" Smaug raised his head and narrowed his yellow vision. "Now _that_ is interesting…a tiny little mortal like _you_ claiming to tame a _dragon_?"

Silica nodded with more confidence. "Yea I did! In my home world! Pina and I are best friends!"

"Dear god you named it?" Smaug had a hard time concealing his fire after letting out another roaring laugh. "You are quite a fool to bring this story into my presence, but if what you're saying is indeed true than I suppose it isn't entirely your fault."

"It… _huh_?" Silica looked confused, until Smaug buried his lower legs deeper into the gold, as if he were writing her off and going back to sleep.

"Yes. You clearly don't know what a _real_ dragon looks like, which means you don't know what a real dragon is capable of either…"

Silica was starting to feel her courage fade, but as she went to turn, Smaug's tail slammed into the golden sea, which caused a wave of coins to sweep over her tiny body and carry her downhill.

Suddenly she realized he wasn't falling back to sleep, in-fact he was actually far from it.

"I am not like any other mere dragon! I am the mightiest of all my kind!" He roared a great flamed yell as he opened his large spanned wings inside the cave. "My armor is made of red steel, glistening above my golden horde! My teeth are like swords! My claws are spears, my voice is thunder, my wings a hurricane, and my breath is equal the fires of even the deepest pits of hell!"

He then swept up a roar of winds and encircled the entire room with a twisting vortex of lightly scattered golden coins.

"I AM THE KING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN!"

Silica shook with utter fear as she looked up to this ultimate monster, who was easily three times the size of _Corrideer the Caustic_ from ALO.

Then, her eyes narrowed as Silica came a crossed a peculiar scale right underneath his left wing, just below his pectoral.

In a further observation, it actually wasn't a scale at all, but rather a missing piece in his so-called "armor."

"S-Sinon was right?" Silica spoke to herself as she realized they had a way to win after all, but just then Smaug snapped back down to see his visitor.

"What was that!?" He roared with a hissing bolt of thunder.

"Ah! Nothing!" Silica stood back up and raised her hands to their original upright positions.

Smaug grinned with his teeth fleshed out all the way. "Nothing indeed…well I must say I don't mind roasting a tiny little girl, but I will be kind to the so called 'dragon tamer.' So tell me _thief_ …how do you choose to…?!"

Smaug went to make another question, but as he did the dragon let out an unexpected cry as a flash of thin brown arrows bounced off his head and onto the floor.

"Ah man…" Lisbeth sighed as she clearly missed her mark. "Sinon makes it look so easy…and I only have like five of those!"

"Grrr…." Smaug geared up his head, and took in a big breath of smoke and ash as he released a large column of fire right for Lisbeth, but as it hit the tiny blacksmith rolled down the hill and under a golden throne for cover.

Meanwhile Asuna appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Silica by the arm. "Thanks! Now we know it has a weakness!"

Smaug heard that and turned around, ignoring Lisbeth and shooting another cloud of flames right for Asuna and Silica instead.

Asuna and Silica wrapped each other in a bear hug and rolled down another slope of gold and watched the fire sore over the peak of the hill. They then stood up and Asuna looked at Silica.

"Lisbeth finished the arrow, and she actually turned it into three smaller ones. Leafa took it back…and now we have to get Smaug out of here."

"WHAT!?" Silica cried out in confusion. "We have to lead him out of here!? But I thought Sinon was just the backup plan?"

Asuna nodded. "You called his bluff Silica! Nice job! We saw the hole in his scales under his left wing, which means Sinon will have a perfect shot to hit it. Plus even though he hates us, we'll also have Sigurd's whole army in Lake-town to help."

"But what if Smaug burns the whole town up!?"Silica asked, but both stopped talking as they heard a shriek coming from Lisbeth, followed by a cry of confusion.

"GUYS! HE JUST SET ME ON FIRE, BUT IT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! WHAT DO I DO!?"

Silica and Asuna both blinked, and as Silica tried to wrap her head around that though, Asuna opened up her mind.

"Lis! Are you wearing your ring!?"

"YEA! I STILL HAVE IT ON FROM…WAIT HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT!?"

Asuna yelled back as Smaug came over to look at them. "NO TIME TO EXPLAIN, BUT I BET THAT HAD SOMETHING TO _DO WITH IT_!"

Those last three words were frantically yelled as Asuna jumped out of the way of a fire ball, and since she could guess her avatar was not immune to fire like Lisbeth's, she had no choice but to dodge it.

Silica yelled over from another pile of coins. "Asuna! What do we do now!?"

"Hmm…" Asuna pondered for a moment, until she saw Smaug's eyes clearly meet hers.

This meat Asuna was open for a clear cut attack, and as Smaug went down to charge up, he grinned with a row of horrifying teeth.

"I must say, bringing only three of you was foolish, but it takes courage…I suppose even thieves need it to get their deeds done the hard way." He then raised a head and looked to the south. "Not what I expected from those runts Annatar keeps feeding me with…"

"What…?" Asuna was now more inclined to have a conversation with the beast rather than try to fight it, which left Smaug open to more discussion.

"The last batch he sent me didn't even make it past Mirkwood, I suppose? Funny, I heard it was full of champion swordsmen…but I suppose even the best fall utterly short to my legend and name."

"Grr…" Asuna balled up her open fist and started speaking through her teeth. "You're quite the NPC…I need to thank Annatar for making such a creepy boss."

"AHAHA!" Smaug howled and sent his long-awaited ball of extra fire right into the air as he howled with laughter. "THAT FOOL!? He only created my quest as a cheap demo in his little, impotent video game. Meanwhile none of his testers have been able to pass through it to get onto the next levels! And here I stand, proud and more golden than ever!"

Silica's heart started beating faster. "Y-You're right, Asuna…this AI is wild…"

Smaug agreed, but then lifted a hand to clean his right claws, and as he did he let out a great big toothy smirk.

"I can't blame any of them though…If they only knew what death and calamity waited the victor of this game. The war too come is not…"

"AGH!"

Asuna had heard enough and threw a great big pot of gold right at the dragon's armored chest. She then drew her new elven sword (curtosy of Sigurd's kingdom) and rallied forward in a glowing sword skill, trying her very best to pin her blade though his heart, or at the very least pick off one extra scale for Sinon later on.

Smaug never even shot out a second column of fire, and instead only lifted his winged hand, and lowered it in an attempt to squash her like a bug.

Suddenly however, Silica charged forward while riding on a great big golden plate, and grabbed Asuna as she rode the saucer down the hill of gold and underneath Smaug's bottom legs.

The large terror that was Smaug raised his head in an annoyed manor, and then opened up his mouth to barely miss the two girls with another blast of flames.

Silica and Asuna jumped off the plate and behind a large golden chair to try and dodge the next attack, but as they waited another voice took the air.

It was Lisbeth of all people, and she cried out another sentence in confusion.

"OH WAIT! I FORGOT TO MENTION LEAFA FOUND A NEW SWORD IN THE TREASURE!"

Asuna closed her eyes to expect the worst flame imaginable, until Smaug stopped to listen in on Lisbeth's ranting.

"YEA I TOLD HER IT PROBABLY WASN'T A GOOD IDEA, WHAT WITH THE BIG TERRIFYING DRAGON GUARDING IT ALL, BUT SHE INSISTED ON TAKING IT! I GUESS THE LAKE GUYS WANTED TO BUY SOME TREASURE OFF US ONCE WE WON, SO IT ONLY MADE SENSE FOR…!"

 _"_ _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"_ Smaug unleashed a large spear of pure fire into the air, which damaged part of the chamber roof. He then barreled forward in a cloud of flames and tore through the front of the treasure room, breaking into the foyer hall of the kingdom and quickly opening his own exit out of the gate.

Finally, as the great winged serpent flew out of Erebor, Asuna and Silica took large, deep breaths, and Asuna spoke up.

"Lis…did you lie about that whole Leafa thing?"

Lisbeth laughed as she slid down the hill on a gold late and landed next to Asuna. "Hehe, yea I remembered him freaking out about Silica being a thief, so I figured it'd get his ass off to Sinon."

Silica's mouth hit the floor, and Asuna shook her head and sighed.

"Well…I hope Leafa's ready for a new travelling companion."

* * *

 **So it was very challenging to try and make my own thing, but in the end I really didn't mind following the book/films on this one. Both the book and films had awesome scenes with Smaug, so I guess I just wanted this chapter to be a tribute to those. Silica seemed to get some internal fire from this discussion, and Lisbeth's elven ring can make her invincible to _fire_? **

**New chapter tomorrow! Comment and review any thoughts or concerns you think you might have, especially with chapters like this that hover on the line of creativity and regular LOTR story line.**


	14. 14: The Creed of Every Marksman

**Author's Note: Hello again! Number 14 is here, and it resolves yesterday's craziness from inside Erebor, only now the town on the Long Lake will be in for a treat...let's hope our ALfheim heroes can do something to save it before something terrible happens.**

 **Also I explored typing with a few different languages (one quote from the Fairy Dance arc of SAO and another from Tolkien's fancy elvish language.)**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

The Creed of Every Marksman

 _"Arrow! Black arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you."_

― Bard, _The Hobbit_

* * *

Leafa road like the wind as she took Silica's racing mare down the hills of cinder and ash, and onto the distant shores of Lake-town to the south.

"Man, this thing is super-fast! How did Silica find it…?" It was probably a question better saved for another time. For now, Leafa had one mission to achieve.

"I wish Sinon would have just come to the mountain with Silica. I couldn't get a friend's request to her, so now I have to hand deliver these things to…"

Leafa continued to rant until she noticed an intensifying glow of yellow and orange approaching from behind.

"Um...please tell me that's Asuna or…"

It was not. Smaug had just unleashed a great big ball of fire right for her horse, but just before it landed the mount turned right and fled behind a row of tall boulders.

"WHAT IS IT DOING FOLLOWING ME THIS SOON!?" She looked with eyes of terror as she grabbed the reins tighter and slapped them for increased speed. "OH-KAY TIME TO GET TO THE LAKE HORSEY!"

Back and forth the horse dodged rocks from below and fire from above, and as Leafa's heart was sounding louder, Smaug's temper was running thin.

"I WILL NOT LET THOSE TRASH-PEDALING FOOLS FROM LAKE-TOWN EARN WEALTH FROM MY GOLD! I WILL BURN THEM DOWN TO ASH AS I DID DALE!" Smaug did not sound happy, but even worse, Leafa had no idea what he was talking about, so the large terrifying dragon came off as both deadly and insane.

"THIS GUY'S NUTS!" She cried out, and then tugged on the reins at last second to dodge another fiery bullet.

"And his aim is getting better…" She then looked to see how long the gap between her and the lake was, and then sighed.

"Well, Silica said you were a good horse…" She then closed her eyes and performed the un-imaginable. Now riding without holding the reins, she hoped for the best and prayed for the horse to auto-pilot its way down to Lake-town, in order for her to finish a shield incantation.

"Þú sér lind ásynja, burt eimi og sverð!"

She then ordered up a ring of several elvish letters to circle around her, followed by glowing blue butterflies to form a solid orbed shield to protect her from the fire.

And for at least the first few hits, it appeared to have worked.

"ELVISH MAGIC!?" Smaug roared as he soared ever closer to her horse. "I WILL BURN THROUGH YOUR LITTLE TRICKS! I AM THE GREAT FIRE IN THE NORTH, AND I WILL KILL ALL IN MY PATH!"

He reached out with his large talons on his lower legs, and tried to grab her horse from behind, but then Leafa re-controlled the reins and turned her horse through more boulders to trouble Smaug's flight.

He then growled again, but stopped to look just how close to Lake-town they truly were.

"Very well…I'll just burn the town NOW AND GET _IT OVER WITH_!"

Leafa's eyes widened as she tried riding faster and faster to keep up with his flight, but as Smaug took to the air in a higher altitude, she was left in his winged dust and only prayed for her friends' lives.

"AGH! Don't worry guys…I'm coming!"

Meanwhile, as the frightened townsfolk of Lake-Town looked to see Smaug descending on their presence, the neighboring visitors from Mirkwood were firmly placed at the gates of the town. In fact, all 300 were lined up with bows aimed to the skies.

Then, a smug Sigurd with a silver helm raised a hand armored with an even shinier gauntlet, and yelled his command. "Hado i philinn!"

All the Mirkwood elves released the arrows in their bows on command, except for Sinon, who stood atop a city watch tower and rolled her eyes.

"…" She had no idea what Sigurd said, but all's she knew was that the arrows in their bows would not be enough to bring down that monster.

"DUCK!" She yelled from her tower, and in response half the group of elves obeyed as Smaug sent a ball of fire right over their heads.

Sigurd turned to find Sinon yelling from a tower, which he did not like one bit. He then saw Recon talking with several elves on the ground below her, which he hated even more.

"Recon! I will lead my men! Understand?"

Recon looked up with his troupe of elves, and as he stood in a shaking silence, Sigurd turned back to the dragon who was now busy burning the back half of the town.

"YOU IDIOT!" Sinon yelled over her rampart as she noticed Smaug slip by their line.

Sigurd got more and more frustrated as he returned to speak in his native tongue. "Turn and hit it under its hide! Dragons are weakest under their…"

"NO!" Sinon yelled over his voice. "SHOOT ITS WINGS! You can't kill it with regular arrows, but maybe you can slow it down!"

Sigurd narrowed his vison, but then gasped as his men followed her order and shot out arrows into the Smaug's two kite-like wings.

The large beast yelled out with rage and anger as he swooped back down to make another attack on the elves, but as he did a shining wall of solid golden gel formed beyond the front line.

Sinon, Sigurd, Recon, and half the elves turned to find Leafa riding into town, half out of breath and nearly falling off her horse with magic depletion running her on low.

"Sin…Sinon…" she coughed as she slid off the horse and landed next to a terrified Recon, who ran over to catch her in her fall.

"SUGUHA! Are you alright!?" Recon looked worried for his tired friend, until she opened her eyes and looked up.

"Get…off…me."

Recon gasped and jumped out of her way as Leafa stood while rubbing her head.

"And don't call me by that name!" She stepped on his toe to re-enforce her point, and then met face to face with Sigurd, who stood with broad shoulders to block her admittance.

"Sigurd, get out of my way, now." Leafa had lost all her patience in her near death ride down from Erebor, and now she was about to kill Sigurd who stood in front of her with angry eyes.

"I told you…" he looked down with disapproval "I told you I had this all under control. Annatar kept sending in failures from ALO, and I took command of these elves to defeat the boss for my company and get the game rolling with…"

"I don't care about your damn game, or your job…I don't know what you did to get all these NPCs to follow you, but you might want to re-evaluate your equations."

Leafa made a coding joke to have Sigurd turn to find Sinon now had full control of his 300 warriors. She had them firing at the right time, and dodging fire at the last second. Even better, her skilled tactics seemed to keep Smaug's fire out of most of the city, with the exception of the north gate and the buildings around the elves.

"Agh…grr…" Sigurd clenched his fist with rage, and then felt Leafa butt him with a shoulder as she marched forward with her next objective.

"Where are you going?" Sigurd yelled, grabbing Leafa by her arm and pulling her back, only to receive a smack to the face by an even angrier Leafa.

"Pathetic…" Leafa turned back to face the watch tower and slowly ran as fast as she could, with Recon running behind her.

"Hey Recon, we have the black arrows now. I just need to get up there and get them to Sinon."

Recon understood, but then he started scratching his head. "Okay, but why didn't you just send her a friend invite, or a player message including the package?"

"AH!" Leafa let out a tiny blush from embarrassment and crossed her arms as she kept marching forward. "I thought about it, but I wasn't sure what name to send it too!"

Recon still looked confused. "Really? I mean her avatar name can't change when it's being transferred from ALO. Heck to be honest you might already have her transferred from your ALO friend's list if you just…"

Leafa drew her elf sword and held it up to Recon's neck, which prompted him to hold his hands up in an apologetic manor.

Finally she sighed. "Sorry…I guess I forgot once a big dragon started chasing me down the hill." She then opened up her menu after sheathing her sword, and sent a player message to a now visible Sinon.

Sinon was in the middle of firing an arrow for Smaug's open spot under his chest in the distance. She knew it wouldn't do anything with normal arrows, but she wanted to practice before she made the real shot.

"Hmm…easier than I figured…but he's flying pretty fast." She kept her eyes pinned on his every movement, and as he swayed back and forth through the fiery skies, Sinon took a deep breath and drew back another arrow.

Then, she stopped as a clear screen encoded with a player message from "Leafa" appeared right in front of her, and then she opened the letter and received 3 newly developed in-game items-the _Black Arrows of Erebor_.

"Okay, these are the new arrows?" She noticed the amount and chuckled.

"I'm kinda insulted Lisbeth made 3…" She said with sarcasm as she loaded up her elven bow and drew back on the heavier than usual black arrow.

"Okay, now here's my…" Sinon went to fire, but then noticed Smaug shot a fire ball right for Leafa and Recon.

Now noticing they were too distracted to defend themselves, Sinon shot out her first arrow in the planks of boardwalk they were standing on, to plummet them below into the lake water and protect them from the fire.

Leafa yelled out with anger, but Sinon ignored it and sighed. "Well, two arrows I guess…Maybe I can…"

She then saw Smaug was now targeting her tower, and as she turned her flew by and knocked out a support beam with his large tail, sending it tilting to the right.

Sinon wobbled around for a moment before re-affirming her balance, and then lowered her second arrow and fired it into the lower edge of her wooden tower, which managed to act as a new nail for one of the support beams left to help keep her high.

"Great…now I really only have one left."Sinon looked down at her last black arrow, and then up to see the large dragon was no longer flying around, but instead standing in the opening at the town gate looking right at her.

"Well, _bowman_. I don't know what you're up to, but those puny black arrows will not be enough to save your wretched elven friends. You, and this city will burn!"

"Bow _man_?" Sinon sighed and rolled her eyes, and as she did she equipped the last arrow and pulled back on her draw string.

Smaug laughed, and lit up his belly for another pending fiery roar. "I will NOT let a tiny army of pathetic elves, nor a few scurrying girls get away with stealing my treasure! Nor will I let these miserable rodents from Annatar continue to try and kill me! I cannot die, I am invincible!"

"Invincible?" Sinon said as she closed on eye, and kept another on his weakened missing scale.

Finally Smaug reared his ugly head to reveal a throat full of golden flames, and finished by cursing Sinon one last time.

"HERE ME BOWMAN!? I AM FIRE! I AM DEATH!"

"And I'm not a man."

Sinon left it at that as she released her arrow and sent it flying through the air and into the figurative heart of the dragon, causing him to screech a horrible, guttural sound from his extinguished lungs, and fly into the air, only to come down over the northern edge of the town in a pit fall to his demise.

Then, Smaug the terrible, Smaug the stupendous, Smaug the golden…laid dead in the streets.

Elves and men in the NPC village cheered and rejoiced as all took witness to the great slaying of the dragon, and if that didn't solidify Sinon's control over the Mirkwood Elves than nothing ever would.

Sinon smiled from her victory and climbed off her tower, only to find Leafa shivering in the cold lake water on deck with a smile on her face.

"I hate you…and I love you Sinon!" She laughed as she ran up and wrapped her soaking wet arms around the dragon slayer, who only smiled and laughed in response.

"Well I have to thank you guys! Lisbeth made an awesome arrow, and you guys made sure I got it!"

Recon nodded. "Yea! So do we think Kirito will find us?"

"Ha-aha-ahahahaha!"

Leafa turned to deliver another scowl, and Recon and Sinon turned as well to find Sigurd clapping his hands.

"Very well done, Miss Sinon was it? You were very impressive. You not only killed a boss that cannot be killed, but you also managed to take away my army, and army designed to follow my orders, and wield them as your own to command."

Sinon stood in silence, but Leafa spoke up. "What do you mean a boss that can't be killed?"

Sigurd laughed and rolled his eyes, and then raised his hands to deliver one last clap.

"I suppose you all do have what it takes to handle the War of the Ring."

Then, Sigurd disappeared in a puff of yellow smoke, and just like that Leafa, Sinon, and Recon all felt their bodies growing lighter as a cloud of golden smoke formed around them as well.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Recon yelled out in fear as the three friends grabbed ahold of each other's hands.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Leafa yelled too, but then looked north to the Lonely Mountain as their vision slowly began to fade.

"BUT I HOPE THE OTHERS ARE OKAYY…" Then the three heroes of Lake-town floated up into the air, and vanished without a trace.

* * *

 _~Meanwhile, in the Halls of Erebor, surrounded by the golden horde of "Smaug the Deceased."_

"Well, I wonder what's happening down at Lake-town…?" Asuna sighed with a tired head as she sat on the ground back to back with Silica, who also looked tired after their tiny dance with a dragon.

Silica lowered her head and closed her eyes. 'Yea, I'd go check on them but I told Leafa to take my horse when she left…I'm not really in the mood to walk all the way back there."

As Asuna and Silica continued to sit in exhaustion, Lisbeth slowly walked up a tiny hill of golden coins, and slide down on her bottom to join them in the valley below.

"Man, do you guys think we get this gold for the next game?" Lisbeth said with a laugh in her voice. "That'd be pretty cool starting out a game with money like this!"

Asuna smiled. "Yea, though I think most of it should go to whoever kills Smaug. I have my money on Sinon…"

Silica nodded. "Yea. As long as those arrows work with her bow, I don't see any reason to believe how she can't do it."

Lisbeth crossed her arms. "What's that supposed to mean? Are my arrows not gonna be good enough for her?"

"No I…eh forget it." Silica raised her head in fear but lost the energy once again and lowered it back down.

That made Asuna laugh, and then she turned to Lisbeth. "Hey, Silica said when we find Seijirō later on he might be able to change our classes. I don't suppose you'll want to change yourself to a dwarf?"

Lisbeth pondered that for a moment, and then lit up with a smile as she gazed around the large hall of Erebor. "I don't know, that does sound pretty cool. Maybe I'll unlock some extra black smithing techniques…" She then snapped her fingers and reached into her inventory. "I almost forgot! I finished your sword Asuna!"

Then, Lisbeth pulled out the newly forged _Lambent Light_ and placed it in Asuna's hands, and right away the former commander of the strongest guild in SAO lit up like a kid on Christmas as she drew the blade from its scabbard and held it in the light.

"Wow…it looks just like the real one Lis! Thanks!"

The proud blacksmith gave her friend a nice smile, but then looked to find a confused Silica.

"Hey Asuna…" The little animal tamer said. "I saw Lisbeth coming over the gold pile to hit Smaug during the battle, but I never actually saw when you came to help me…"

Lisbeth raised one of her eyebrow. "No kidding. Asuna what's up with all your invisibility stuff lately?"

"Oh my invisibility…?" Asuna lingered on the last word for a moment, and curled up into a ball as she brought her knees up to her chest. She then patted one of her pockets with the back of her hand to make sure her ring was still safely in her possession, but after that she still didn't feel ready or comfortable enough to tell them.

"Yea, about that. Look, I sort of found…"

Before Asuna could finish her explanation, a flashing message popped up in front of her eyes, and then then same message appeared in front of Silica and Lisbeth.

Silica lit up with a smile as she read the message. "Oh wow! It says my party beat Smaug! Sinon must have killed him!"

"Yea she did!" Lisbeth let out a cheer and high fived Silica, but then they both found that Asuna wasn't in the same mood.

"Yea, we weren't in Sinon's party…so why did Lisbeth and I get the same message?"

"…" Lisbeth and Silica then changed from ecstatic to just like Asuna, and suddenly the words disappeared, followed by the arrival of the same oddly colored golden cloud that took Leafa and the others away in Lake-town.

"Um guys! What's going on!?" Silica said as they all three stood up quickly and held each other's hands.

"I don't know, but it better be taking us to that creep Annatar!" Lisbeth said as she wagged her fist in the air with rage. "I want some answers and I want the right…!"

Then, all three girls were silenced, and in the blink of an eye they disappeared from the halls of Erebor and teleported to a new location.

During their disappearance, each girl was taken to a separate loading screen where they spent the waiting moments alone away from their friends. Asuna was now just as uncomfortable as she was the day she ventured into MEO, and with the long wait of the loading time, nothing seemed to make it any easier on her.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Asuna said with a heavy heart and cause for concern as she was now sitting through the longest loading screen of her life, purely alone. In fact she even tried tapping on Yui's Phial, but it did no good as the light never turned on, and Yui never came out.

In all honesty, the only comfort she possessed in this time was…her peculiar golden ring.

Then, Asuna looked up to find another quote during the waiting process, but this one left her with an eerie thought as she reached down and grabbed the ring from her pocket.

 _"_ _One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,_

 _One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."_

 _-J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings_

"One Ring?" Asuna repeated it with an echo in her mind. "What does that mean… _One Ring to rule the all_ …?"

* * *

 **Okay so technically she killed Smaug in one shot, even though she shot all 3 arrows (2 on completely different targets) The Sniper's Creed is very important to Sinon, so I wanted her to channel it for the kill shot...and yea of all the girls (and Recon), it probably fit best to have Sinon deliver the kill shot.**

 **Also the group is now being teleported to a new place, could it be the demo is done and they're moving on to the real game!? Man Asuna did not like the new floating quote that greeted her on her way out...**

 **Comment and review! Big chapter tomorrow.**


	15. 15: The Lord of the Rings

**Author's Note: Okay here's number 15! We'll see where the group wound up teleporting to!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings_.**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

The Lord of the Rings

 _"There is only one Lord of the Ring, only one who can bend it to his will. And he does not share power."_

― Gandalf, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

Asuna awoke with a frightening chill over her arms as she rolled over the hardened rock beneath her body. When she raised her head, all that surrounded her was darkness, green murky trees, ancient stone ruins, and a tiny group of friends.

"Where are we?" She had no time to sound slow or groggy. The moment her conscience return from the loading screen her head was up and her eyes were alert. She started by scanning the large, circular stone platform around her. There she found 5 of her friends slowly getting up as well.

Two were Silica and Lisbeth, while the other three appeared to be Leafa, Recon, and the savior of Lake-town Sinon. Asuna's eyes widened after realizing all these friends were seemingly safe, but then returned to normal once she remembered where they were.

The only problem? She had no idea where they were to begin with.

Lisbeth rubbed her head. "I dunno…this place is pretty creepy though. Kinda reminds me of…"

"It's Mirkwood." Sinon explained as she stood and readjusted her strap on her quiver. "I'm getting a skill buff from the region. It has to be Mirkwood, or at least a sub section of it…"

Silica stood too and looked to her archer friend. "Oh is this were Chrysheight and the others went to investigate? I wonder if they're around…?"

"OY! SEND THESE FOOLS TO THE DEPTHS ALREADY!"

The six teammates all turned to look up an ancient set of stairs leading up to another stone alter platform. There they could see several torch fires and three long metal cages hanging over the far end.

They also realized whoever just spoke had no knowledge of their existence, because he was too distracted the beings trapped inside the prisons.

"No can do!" Another creepy voice yelled. "The master wants this one alive! Maybe these other two can die, but right now we gotta keep 'em all here until further orders."

"Well I don't remember us always following orders from some mangy human! Or elf, or whatever the hell he is!"

"SHUT UP!" A louder and more frightening voice roared like a lion to silence the other to. He then spoke again. "We will not touch them until further orders, no more stupid questions."

Asuna and her crew had now lowly tip-toed up the stairs to find three large, grey orcs standing guard over what looked like Chrysheight, Agil, and Klein knocked out inside the hanging cages.

Asuna made no hesitation once she confirmed to herself that it was them, and then with all 5 of her companions following her, she lead them over the steps and into a new fight with the three large, but un-organized enemies.

After making quick work of the worthless patrol, Asuna and the others pulled the cages back over the ledge and unlocked them to pull out their friends. She then lifted Chrysheight's head and placed it on her knee.

"Seijirō!? What happened? Seijirō!?" No response came to reply Asuna's call, and as she looked around, Klein and Agil also seemed to be knocked out in the other's possession.

Slowly but surely, the six savors carried the 3 unconscious bodies down the steep stairs back to the main platform, and there they divided themselves into another conversation.

"Okay, Sinon do you remember why these guys felt the need to come here? Leafa asked with concern in her voice.

Sinon gave them a quick shake of her head and shrugged. "They mentioned it was called Dol Guldur? But no, they never said why it was important to beating the demo."

Silica stepped up. "Oh! But they did say the villain form the next series used to call this place his fort or something. I think they wanted to see if that was true for the game as well."

Lisbeth took another look around and cringed at the horrible site. "Yea, makes sense. This place looks like it came out of a haunted nightmare or something."

Recon agreed. "Yea, I thought this forest was crept enough, but now they had to show us this horrible place?"

Asuna remained quiet the entire time, which prompted Sinon to look her way. "Asuna, you look like something's up. What is it?"

The light-brown haired elf realized Sinon was talking to her and slightly jumped. "O-oh sorry, I'm just trying to put all of this together. I mean…why did we get teleported here?"

Recon thought he'd try to answer. "Well this is the home of the next game's villain, so maybe we're supposed to get a sneak preview?"

"And what is he supposed to match the creepiness of this place!?" Lisbeth felt her skin crawl at the thought of a boss worse than Smaug. "If he's that scary than I'm out! I saw how legit Smaug's AI was, and he was only the demo's boss! No way I'm fighting some other ugly monster with freaky powers and realistic AI anytime soon…"

"Monster? Oh heavens no. The new boss is quite noble."

Everyone turned to find a luxurious blonde elf standing in a shining ring of gold as he stood atop a black pillar. The gold light quickly faded, but the smile on his face grew brighter.

"But yes, I will admit his AI is very impressive."

"Annatar." Asuna spat the word like it was a curse among men. "What are we doing here? Why did you teleport us?"

The Game Master laughed and clapped his hands together. "Well you're here because I wanted to see the champions of my demo in person! Truly what a magnificent group of warriors! Firstly I'd like to thank the archer for having such an amazing shot! I'd also like to thank the blacksmith for…"

"Can it…" Lisbeth stopped him before he gave her a compliment. "We wanna know what's going on."

Annatar let out another grin and shrugged. "I just told you, I'm here to give you my sincerest congratulations." He then looked at Recon. "And your friend here is half-right. You are here to earn a sneak peek at the next villain of the series, but make no mistake, he isn't some cheap European-styled dragon with a knack for riddles and a lust for gold."

Leafa tensed up and stepped back. "I have a feeling I know who it might be guys…"

That made Annatar laugh, and then he pointed to Chrysheight, Agil, and Klein's unconscious bodies. "Funny. You know, those friends of yours did quite a bit of snooping, and they never even realized that it broke some of the game's highest cardinal rules."

He then started walking off the pillar, but instead of falling, his feet met an invisible plain. The master elf also made sure to gain a full view of Chrysheight before he continued.

"Also, I'd like to point out _that_ one right there was supposed to be one of my employees, but I guess he decided to trick the Game Master with a lie instead."

Asuna looked down with widened eyes and tried to collect that for a moment. "Seijirō tried infiltrating the game before we started playing…?"

Annatar continued. "He was crafty, I'll give him that…in fact he managed to relocate the game's most powerful object and place it somewhere beyond my reach."

Lisbeth scratched her head. "So? Make a new one? Override the command? I'm not even a tech person and I still bet you can get whatever it is back."

Annatar rolled his eyes. "Not when a game is developed right. When a game is developed right, a creator _earns_ his power and domain, he does not make it out of thin air. Therefore when an item goes missing, he makes it one of a kind, and makes it irreplaceable. It makes the game that much more fun."

Silica wanted to speak next, but she really didn't want to be the one to ask this question. "So, w-what is it?"

"Hmph." Annatar raised an eyebrow and started pacing over thin air once again. "Do you all have any idea why the books are called the _Lord of the Rings_? Has it ever dawned on you what that means?"

"No." Leafa explained flatly. "Heck I didn't even know what a hobbit was until I played this game."

Lisbeth laughed. "Yea, Kirito probably did, or that Klint kid, but they're a bit nerdier than we are."

That n-word stung inside Annatar's ear for far longer than he would have hoped. He then shook his head. "My dear guests, what items did I hand out in the beginning of the game?"

Asuna answered. "Rings. We each got a ring."

Sinon then partially corrected her. "We didn't see you, but we earned them in a mini-quest. Agil even said the numbers meant something as well."

"Correct!" Annatar pointed her out. " _SO_ it's almost as if the game _made you_ go on with them in your possession. Now...how many of you were there?"

"Um…" Silica tried counting. "Chrysheight said two came before us, and we came in with five."

Leafa nodded. "Plus our three…and Kirito's nine?"

"Heh." Annatar smirked. "You have the math right, but how many rings have you seen in total thus far? Think hard, and think of every _single_ one."

Lisbeth looked at Asuna with her fingers out. "I dunno, if those two extra kids Sinon said have ones also, than what is that 19?"

Asuna heard her, but never nodded as she now felt the golden ring in her pocket grow heavier and heavier.

Annatar had his eyes on her the entire time. "Funny…none of you happened to lose a ring by chance, did you?"

Sinon, Silica, and Recon all looked confused, but Leafa and Lisbeth's eyes went straight to Asuna, who remained dead silent.

Then Annatar chucked a tiny white object down from his perch and onto the ground, and after it took a couple bounces over the rock, the White Ring _Nenya_ landed right in front of its original owner, Asuna Yuuki.

The former ring-bearer trembled with fear of the future as Annatar curled his lips out and tapped them with his finger. "Hmm, that's odd. I had your ring…and it just so happens that I myself am missing a ring as well."

Lisbeth started getting angrier and had enough. "Okay stop with the crap! Tell us what the rings are for! None of us fell for it whatever it was!"

"Yes…I realized that, and I hope you realized the importance of your numbers." He then looked at Sinon, Recon, and Silica, who were not the races they were supposed to be.

"I had three groups brought in by a select number…and not a single one of you idiots ever realized what it was. A simple god damned Google search could have given it away!"

He would have started laughing hysterically, if he wasn't already met with anger. Finally he sighed and held up his fingers.

 _"_ _Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone…"_

One of the groups understood the elven part, while the other caught the mention of dwarves.

Annatar continued pacing with a graceful attitude. _"Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne…"_ He started getting more dramatic with his descriptions as the poem continued on.

 _"_ _In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie…"_

Then, he looked right at Asuna with bright white eyes, though if you asked her, for a second they almost looked like orange _fire_.

 _"_ _One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them…"_

Everyone's eyes opened widely with that ominous verse, and Asuna's heart skipped a beat the moment she recognized it from the quote on her loading screen.

This left Annatar with the brightest grin of the entire night, as he concluded his poem.

 _"_ _In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."_

Finally, he stopped walking and looked Asuna right in the eyes.

"Where's my One Ring, Asuna?"

Asuna drew her blade, which then prompted all the others to draw weapons as well, but as they did their eyes left Annatar and looked around the platform to notice a cloud of black shadows over lined with thick fog.

And then, just like before, nine figures in blackened shadow stepped up with horrible steel swords, each drawn and ready for battle.

Annatar clapped with laughter and raised a hand. "My nine mortal men! Doomed to Die! They are ready to commit to my every will, so why aren't any of you!?"

Asuna growled in anger for a moment and then went to lung forward, but as she did a hand caught her leg.

It was Chrysheight, and he looked worried. "You can't…you can't defeat them."

"What?" Asuna tried to let him finished, but quickly rolled out of the way to let Sinon hit one of the shadows right over her shoulder. Asuna then turned around and led the fight again as all 6 able bodied warriors charged forward to fight.

They tried all their tricks, Leafa with her magic, Sinon with her bow, Silica even had her elven dagger _Sting_ drawn and to the ready.

Recon danced around for sneak attacks, Lisbeth hit them hard with forceful power, and finally Asuna recited her usual sword skills from SAO as _Lambent Light_ poked and sliced the enemies into pieces.

However, as she struck their bodies, they simply morphed out of the way and into their original form. This troubled her for a moment as she tried dodging them over and over with their large dark grey swords swinging every which way a crossed the field.

They were clearly out-numbered, 6 to 9, and even worse, Chrysheight wasn't done explaining the problem.

"Asuna!" He coughed up from behind the six. "You must get away from them!"

"WHY?" She cried out, demanding for an explanation she probably knew the answer to.

Finally, Chrysheight yelled back. "YOUR RING IS FEEDING THEIR POWER!"

Lisbeth and the others assumed it was _Nenya_ , but Asuna knew fully well it had to be that mysterious golden ring from the Mountains.

Now, she regretted ever picking the thing up from its hole deep within the ground.

"I WANT MY RING, ASUNA!" Annatar yelled with both amusement and impatience, and as he did the girl he tried commanding yelled back.

"Then…" She cried out, pausing in the middle of battle. "Why don't you…come down here and take it?"

"Hah…such a fool." Annatar never moved and only looked to the approaching shadow walking towards Asuna.

"That's what he's for."

Asuna now had her original wraith, the tall one sent by Annatar, and a third coming from the side. She had no idea why, but it appeared that these creatures were targeting her as the group leader, and they also appeared like they wanted her ring.

"Not gonna happen!" She yelled out waving her sword back and forth trying to fight them all off. She managed to knock one nearly off the cliff, and another lost his footing, but as she swung for the middle commander, all's she could was hit the sword right out of its hands.

Then, a short paused came over the skirmish as the being looked to his empty hand, and then drew another blade from underneath his cloak.

When he did, Asuna's mind exploded, and her heart almost quit functioning.

"Is that…the _Elucidator_?"

Lisbeth, Leafa, and all the others caught wind with curiosity, and looked away from their private battles each with wide open eyes of disbelief.

Meanwhile, Asuna had no choice but to block the blade of her former partner with _Lambent Light_ , and back and forth she defended herself against the creature's strength in battle.

Finally, in a reverse move, the wraith knocked the rapier out of Asuna's hand this time, and also prompted her to trip over a lose pile of ruble behind her.

Even in the sight of fear, she did not believe anything she saw. "No…that's not his sword. _You_ made that, you ass!" She tried yelling up to Annatar, but he was too bus laughing to hear her.

Finally, the creature fell closer, but as it did, it switched the _Elucidator_ to its left hand, and drew the same eerie black dagger that Kirito found from the boss fight a week ago in ALO.

"That's Klint's dagger, not Kirito's…please tell me this is just Klint... _please_." She was just making excuses for herself now, and as she fell back a little more, Asuna slowly ran out of options.

She reached into her pocket, and tried her old trick of turning invisible, but as she did, only a select group of people in the arena were able to watch her disappear.

This did not include the nine shadows, and the one right before her never let his eyes leave his prey.

Asuna took a deep breath, hoping she was actually left invisible, but as she looked up, a sight worse than death greeted her face. It was not a normal man standing in a shroud of black shadows, no, it was something far worse, and far more personal.

Kazuto Kiriguya, her partner in the real and virtual realms, was standing before her, dagger out and ready to strike.

Asuna's lip trembled, and a few tears rolled down from the corner of her eyes as she noticed it didn't fully look like Kirito. He appeared as white outline, almost like a ghost. He also looked shorter than the shadow he was just a minute ago, though it could have just been the illusion of the cloak or the ring.

Then, she reached out to try and touch the _Elucidator_ , and as she did, more tears started to fall.

"K-Kirito…it's me… _Asuna_. Do y-you remember?"

Kirito's face did not change, and his eyes were filled with empty black, nothing more.

"We're all here…in MEO…to save you, Kirito. We came here to bring you…" She let her hand leave his sword to try and grab his arm, but the figure known as Kirito wasn't moving to respond with warmth.

Finally, he looked down at the clearly visible Asuna and thrusted his sharp dagger of steel and shadow into her abdomen, prompting a cry of pain from his beloved girlfriend, and forcing her to remove the Ring from her fingers.

"AGHHHHH!" She cried out, trying to put the Ring safely in her pocket, but her hands were now wet with tears, and blood from touching her wound.

Then, Kirito looked like the faceless shadow in black from before, and as he bent down he reached out to grab the Ring.

But then, out of nowhere, Klein the Salamander jumped over her shoulders and tackled Kirito into the dirt, wrestling his dagger away.

Asuna's eyes started twitching, and she fell to the ground, and noticed Kirito's dagger was now just a handle. She looked because she could still feel the blade stuck in her side, and she accepted now that it was broken inside her, and it was probably poisoned.

Then, her friends rallied around her and fought off the shadows, but as her vision started to fade, Asuna began to faint in the hands of a strange figure from behind.

It was Seijirō, or Chrysheight, now alive and fully awake. He held onto her hand as she quickly passed out and fell into a deep sleep.

"Asuna! _ASUNA!_ " These were the last words she heard as the light faded from sight, and her breath stopped all at once.

* * *

 **WOOO! 1/3rd of the story is done!**

 **Okay so I really wasn't trying to hide the fate of Kirito from you guys, but in all reality that reveal was never supposed to be a large moment of suspense in _itself_...what _was_ supposed to be big was Asuna's reaction on seeing her beloved boyfriend turned into one of the most frightening creatures in the LOTR series. Also the theme for the story is basically how the other characters would react if Kirito was the one who needed saving (which never really happens in the regular series.)**

 **Well now Asuna's passed out, and for all we know she could have died in the game. We'll find out in the next chapter, which actually transfers us into the second book (No not second story, it will be a chapter tagged onto this one. If you go back to chapter 1 you'll notice I put "Book I" above the chapter. I'll do that for the next one too, and that book will run 18 or so chapters? I forget...that's how Tolkien wrote the individual LOTR trilogy, and I wanted to mimic that.)**

 **Anyway comment and review what you thought about the first 1/3rd of the book so far, and tell me what you look forward to for the last 2/3rds, or what I should improve upon, or anything really! I'm always open for conversations on here with my readers. I've tried skimming through all of your guy's profiles to find stories I'd be interested in, but again if you have any you want me to read let me know! (my favorite series is actually _Fairy Tail_ , and I'm always looking to read more stories on that!)**

 **Until tomorrow!**


	16. 16: A Quest Unending

**Author's Note: Okay Here is the start of Book II, or the second third of the story! We'll see where we left off, and other than that please enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Book II - The War of the Ring

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

A Quest Unending

 _"One equal temper of heroic hearts,_

 _Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will_

 _To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."_

― Alfred, Lord Tennyson, _Ulysses_

* * *

"Kirito…Kirito please!"

Asuna was down on her knees atop the stony ground of Dol Guldur again as she held one hand firmly over her bleeding side, while the other was extended out towards the center black wraith in a line of nine.

All her friends lied wounded or silent around her, and as she began crying with no response from anyone, Annatar floated down off his pedestal.

"Well, I must admit Kazuto was rather lucky to have someone like you in his life…in fact seeing everyone here shows me exactly what kind of person he was. Very caring and easy to be-friend. You all must love him very much..."

Even though the man was grinning, Asuna looked up with puffy red eyes full of tears as she scowled in his direction. "You're a monster…I don't know what you did with him…but there's no way that thing is Kirito."

"Oh really?" Annatar laughed and backed up. "Well, I suppose that will make it easier on him then."

Asuna gasped and widened her eyes as she now felt a large steel blade thrusted inside her upper chest. She turned away from Annatar and realized the main wraith (who was presumed to be Kazuto) had stabbed her with the _Elucidator_ right through the heart.

Asuna's eyes let out more tears, and before she could say anything her now limp body rolled off the back of the sword and fell backwards into an endless pit of shadows.

Then…she heard machines, followed by the sound of an EKG beeping to signify life.

Her view was pitch black after falling from death, but just before anything else happened her eyes quickly opened, and Asuna sat up from a hospital bed panting like a dog with widened eyes and a lightning fast heart rate.

"Ahha…Ahha…w-where…am I?" Asuna was completely confused, and quickly looked around to find herself in a room all alone, with the exception of a blonde nurse with glasses and a worried face.

"Miss Yuuki, are you alright?!" The nurse ran over and grabbed her by the hand.

Asuna finally collected her breath and held a hand up to her head. "I…I guess so…was I dreaming or…?"

The nurse looked at her pillow and grabbed the AmuSphere that was now lying alone. "I suppose so. Your AmuSphere was turned off, but you never woke up once we got you here. You've been out for a few days now."

"O-oh…" Asuna lowered her shoulders and sighed. "So…d-did I die in the game?" She and her friends were still curious if this game had a weird catch when it game to dying in-game, and now she was more curious than ever.

The nurse sighed. "I-I'm sorry, I'm not sure how to answer that entirely, but no. I believe you only got logged out…listen, my name is Nurse Aki, and I'm a really good friend of Seijirō and Kazuto."

"Kazu…" Asuna paused and smiled. "Oh, you're the nurse who helped him through _Gun Gale_?"

"Right, I thought you'd recognize me!" Aki smiled and rubbed Asuna's close hand. "He's a good kid, and I'm glad I get to help one of his closest friends now."

Asuna smiled and nodded, but then turned her head and looked to the floor. "Kirito isn't out of the game is he?"

Aki's supportive smile quickly turned into a frown as Asuna asked her question. She then continued. "I'm sorry, Asuna, but the authorities, nor the company have any location on Kazuto or the other boys from the first test. Your friends that came in with you are all in other rooms, as per Seijirō's request. He's asked the hospital to…"

"To give us treatment, and finish the game from here. Without logging off." Asuna knew why she and her friends were now transferred, because no one knew where Kirito was in the real world.

But they did know where he was in the virtual one, or at least, they had a better idea.

"Well…I guess I'm heading back in then." Asuna shrugged and smiled with a few tears falling from her eyes. She then tightened her grip on nurse Aki's hand.

In response, Aki smiled and looked on. "Okay Miss Yuuki, whenever you're ready."

Asuna never hesitated for a moment, except to give one last nod, and to wipe away her last few tears. She then leaned back, and firmly placed the AmuSphere back over her head, and recited the magic words.

"Link Start!"

* * *

Asuna quickly travelled into the void of videogames, and as soon as the settings for VR were finished, the current game of ALO began.

However, due to Annatar glitching Asuna and the others into the game without disks or hard copies, any avatar stuck inside MEO without dying was left in the world of MEO until death, or victory.

And so, without further ado, Asuna was once again greeted with the new message of the mysterious game.

 **"** **Welcome to**

 **Middle-Earth Online!"**

From there a familiar VMO AI read the greeting aloud, and then instructed her with the next procedure.

"…TRANSFERRING ALL APPLICABLE DATA FROM YOUR PREVIOUS PLAYTHROUGH OF MEO NOW…WELCOME _ASUNA!_ THERE ARE 6 RACES OF MIDDLE-EARTH INHABITANTS TO CHOOSE FROM. PLEASE SELECT WHICH RACE YOU WISH TO PLAY AS."

Asuna remained hesitant but strong in the little room of black, and started scrolling through the 3D pinwheel of choices. Just like before, 6 different beings appeared, and each had a name. Man, Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Maia, and Hobbit.

However, instead of finding them all greyed out, every choice was open to use, and all options were now unlocked.

Here, Asuna actually paid no mind in selecting a race. She wasn't in the mood to waste her time with these sort of trivial obstacles, and to her, any race was fit to use. Therefore, Asuna picked the first option "Man" and entered into the next phase.

However, unlike before, once Asuna made her simple choice, she was then greeted by a category wheel of sub-races, or classes to pick from under the choice of Men. These all looked very fancy, and each one displayed perks and abilities.

Asuna once again paid no mind to any of the attributes in too much detail, but as she tried to narrow down her large choice, she paused at the sight of a very beautiful set of armor.

It was mostly bright silver, with ornate decorations of feathers and wings dotted around the steel plates of armor. It also wore a lot of black and white under armor with chain and leather, and its chest was a dark but pure shade of black, all of which framed a brightly colored white tree centered at the breastplate.

Its name read "Men of Gondor", and although Asuna had no idea what that meant, she realized this would be her new choice of class.

"YOUR CHARACTER WILL BE GENERATED WITH THE SAME STATS FROM PREVIOUS PLAYTHROUGHS OF MEO, BUT SOME FEATURES MAY TRANSFER FROM PAST SEED GAMES AS WELL. DO YOU WISH TO FINALIZE YOU CHOICE AS *MAN OF GONDOR*?"

"…" Asuna wasn't in the mood to pay the game with any form of curtesy, and as a result she remained silent with a firm wave over the 'Yes' option and let the new game load before her eyes.

As the game prepared its new loading screen, Asuna was also greeted by a new quote from the world of Middle-Earth to help her wait through the load.

 _"_ _I will take the Ring, though, I do not know the way…"_

 _-Frodo Baggins, The Fellowship of the Ring_

Asuna's eyes changed from reading the note. They were a cross between disgust and confused. She recognized that name, "Baggins", though she had no idea where she heard it.

Then it barely hit her. _"Isn't the hero of the Hobbit supposed to be a Baggins…is this him?"_ Although Asuna was thinking of _Bilbo_ Baggins, any wonderer who finds themselves illiterate in the verses of Tolkien would know that Asuna isn't far off from naming the right Hobbit.

By any rate, she at least got the idea of the message down. _"But why…why did Frodo *choose* to take the Ring…was he possessed?"_

This all confused Asuna, but nothing helped her case once her screen finished loading and her journey ended with a bright sunny day in…the _House of Elrond_ of all places.

"Wha…where am I?" Asuna covered her eyes with a hand, and then looked down to find herself wearing one of her first SAO outfits from the Knights of the Blood Oath, only instead of red and white, her cloak and skirts were now black and white only, trimmed with very little gold.

She began stumbling around a large room full of windows and beds, until the doors to the left opened up, revealing a very alert crew from before, all wide eyed and searching for something.

"ASUNA!" They all yelled, Lisbeth, Leafa, Silica, and the entire group yelled, with half of them running in to give her a hug.

Asuna had no choice but to smile, and even waved at a select few who chose not to run in from the hall, including Klein, Sinon, Agil, and Recon.

Then one of those faces, the former memory and presumed cyber-ghost Akihiko Kayaba walked in with Chrysheight at his side. The first man spoke with a calm but alert attitude.

"Asuna, it's good to see you're alright. Now we may have our council."

After an hour or so a large group of people were assembled in the main, outdoor conference area on the low end of the house. The lot looked ready to begin a meeting of some kind, but even so Asuna and her small group of friends hardly seemed to recognize most of the new guests.

"Wow, who are all of these losers?" Lisbeth laughed as she raised an eyebrow and looked around.

Leafa agreed, but shook her head. "I'm not sure. Chrysheight said the game's still not out for release, but I guess that creepy Annatar guy has opened it up for beta testing."

Sinon nodded with suspicious eyes. "Yea, so I guess he had a bigger group come in…and I bet he never told any of them about the tricks."

"Actually he didn't have to." Said Chrysheight standing in the doorway to the inside. "Most of the group volunteered their time and avatars to help with the cause."

Silica stood with the group but looked confused. "Cause? I don't get it, like the cause to help Kirito?"

"Hah, well of course!" Chrysheight laughed and raised his hands to corral them all into the meeting area. "Now let's get this thing over with…"

Now several moments later, the large group rallied together and silenced their chatter as Chrysheight, Klein, and Agil all stepped out and told them of their time at Dol Guldur, before the rescue occurred.

"And man just like that these black freaks came out of nowhere!" Klein said with his hands up as he recited his story. "I mean these guys weren't like normal knights, they were monsters."

One man yelled out form the crowd, though by the sounds of his voice he actually sounded like a teenager. "Musta been the Ringwraiths! I knew it, we're done for!"

A whole lot of rabbling and ruckus occurred as Kayaba tried to put his foot down to silence them all. They still had no idea who he was to protect his identity, but as a result they all appeared to respect him none the less.

Finally, Silica of all people spoke with a soft voice. "Um, who are the Ringwraiths exactly…?"

Kayaba sighed and sat back down in his chair. "They are known by many names, but in the lore of the Middle-Earth, they are called _the Nazgûl._ Nine deadly servants bent under the influence of the Dark Lord Sauron. I've been told he is the primary antagonist of the series."

"YEA!" Another random voice yelled out. "And if you idiots would have read up on your Tolkien lore, you woulda known he used to call himself _Annatar_! JUST LIKE THE DAMNED OWNER!"

A lot of people agreed to him and yelled louder, but then Lisbeth put her foot down.

"AH SHUT UP…buncha nerds." She looked to her friends, and then addressed Kayaba. "Look, it was an honest mistake. Anyway, I take it these nine are the same kids who went in with Kirito?"

Chrysheight sighed. "I'm afraid we now have reason to believe that…now that Asuna has helped us confirm their leader appeared to be Kirito."

Asuna nodded but then held her head down as she now held on to Leafa's hand. Then Agil stepped up to explain more.

"It's my fault. I shoulda known more, heck I was the only fan going into the group! Anyway, the evil guy is Sauron, and it looks like the guy playin Annatar has officially changed his player name to fit that name and title. In the story he uses the One Ring to control the wielders of the other lesser Rings of Power…which no one is wearing, right?"

The former owners who were all present nodded their heads, and then Recon spoke up from behind the original group. "S-so what about the Klint kid?"

Chrysheight nodded and stepped forward. "Yes, that's a good question. Like myself and the now missing Sigurd, Klint is a presumed employee of _Mystic Gaming_ , and he has been given a very extensive position on Annatar's, or 'Sauron's' staff."

Sinon wanted more. "And? Where is he?"

Chrysheight explained. "Well this case _is_ interesting, because Sauron has him holding a character position that is supposed to be for the good side."

Sinon wasn't satisfied yet. "And where is that?"

"In the Realm of Gondor, as its Steward."

Everyone turned to the doors to find several shiny silver nights with black tunics and polished pointy helmets coming through the doors. Their banners and chest plates appeared to have the same tree embroidered on Asuna's beginner armor, but theirs all looked much more advanced.

Finally, the man who spoke took off his helmet to reveal a very brutish, and very famous but mysterious face from the world of ALO, with flaming red hair spiked up in a wicked style.

It was Mortimer, the Lord and leader of the Salamanders of ALfheim. He gave the council a grin as he slammed his helmet down on a table. "And he's doing a shit job at it, with the exception that he's kept most of Sauron's forces stuck inside Mordor…with my brother's help."

Asuna's eyes had been widened the moment she saw his tree armor. She held a hand up to her own breast plate and stood still as Leafa cursed out for her. "Mortimer? What are you doing here?"

The Salamander Lord from ALO rolled his eyes and walked over to give Leafa a grin. "What? Kirito is the only player in ALO who stands on my level, or at least my brother Eugene's. It'd be a shame to let him get taken by some second rate gaming company. Besides, don't think I'm the only one in this game fighting to help him. Your little friends Sakuya and Alicia are in here as well, but they can't make it to the meeting because they have some other crap to deal with."

He then walked forward and looked around the room with two hands raised outwards. "And? Where's the Ring…I was told we'd have the weapon of the enemy in our possession."

Everyone looked to Asuna, who looked to Leafa and Lisbeth beside her, and after a firm nod, the holder of the mysterious ring walked forward and set it on a circular table right in front of Kayaba.

The former ruler of SAO leaned forward with squinted eyes and intrigue in his face as he spoke with soft words. "So this is it…the Ring to bring down the entire world of virtual reality."

Mortimer rolled his eyes. "Not on my watch. More importantly, do any of you have any idea how this thing works?" He went ahead and continued before the "geekier" members of the council had time to speak up.

"It takes control of players' minds. Early on it was only set to control the wielders of the other Rings, but the Sauron guy put other codes into it…there are possibilities that it may even take control of players without any other rings."

Mortimer started scratching his chin, almost as if he was planning something with that newly obtained knowledge. As a result Asuna stood up from her chair and yelled out loud, almost taking a guess at what he was playing at. "ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!"

Everyone stopped whispering and looked to find Mortimer proudly smiling right back at Asuna.

The thin but defiant Asuna kept her face firmly on the Salamander leader as she continued. "This isn't the kind of thing we can take lightly. People being taken over? That's insane if you want to use it!"

"Why?" Mortimer asked Asuna, and the entire crowd for that matter. "Why is it that maddening to try and use the weapon against the company? They developed this ridiculous tool, they should be the ones to experience it first-hand. Show them how mad it really is."

Chrysheight held up a hand to take the conversation, which allowed Asuna to now comfortably sit back down.

"A brilliant idea, but no good. No one here can crack the Ring. In fact I doubt Sauron can even break it. He developed it to only work for him under whatever rules he first established, so unless we wish to try something else, the Ring will only answer to him."

Sinon stood forward and looked right at Agil. "Okay so how did they do it in the films?"

Agil paused for a moment to draw upon his memory. "Ah, well they tried destroying it."

"Gladly!" Klein had had enough of the entire conversation the moment it began, and used this as his cue to race forward to smash the Ring with his own sword _._

"AGH!" Klein yelled a war cry as his Katana blade slammed down onto the tiny metal ring, but no luck prevailed as a large crackling sound occurred, followed by a spark of light, and a magical force that shattered his _Karakurenai_ into several pieces and sent Klein flying into the wall of the mansion.

Lisbeth slapped her face and sighed. "Great, now I have to fix that…"

Leafa then raised her eyes and smiled. "WAIT THAT'S IT! Lisbeth can try smelting it! She's broken the codes for everything else so far!"

Everyone started seeing a tiny glimmer of hope, until Kayaba raised a hand of silence to re-take the conversation.

"No, I'm afraid re-forging it will not destroy its existence, nor will we be guaranteed it would destroy its function. Therefore, we need to know how they destroyed the Ring in the books and films."

Agil laughed, almost like a single breath. "Oh, well they just walked it into Mordor and threw it in Mount Doom."

Everyone fell silent, and while half the room started looking angry at the simplistic sound, the other, more educated half shook their heads.

Finally Agil explained. "Well no, I mean don't you guys read that super old meme from 10 years ago…'One does not simply walk into Mordor.' That ol thing?"

No one said anything at first, but Mortimer used this as a time to re-enter the conversation. "The dwarf is right, this place cannot just be entered like any other region. It's guarded by three vastly high mountain ranges extending almost 1500 miles around its borders. It's also guarded by thousands of enemy NPCs, not to mention any players who joined Sauron's cause."

"What?" Asuna looked up with confusion as Chrysheight tried to explain.

"Well, it would appear that not every player in the VR world enjoyed Kirito. We believe most of them come from SAO, and are using this as a way to get back at him for 'leading the beaters', while others simply find him too powerful to play with in ALO."

Mortimer tried carrying on. "In any case the land cannot be penetrated with ease, and if that is the only place this ring can be undone, then we must send a skilled force to go do it."

Everyone stopped talking, and things grew so quiet it almost sounded like they stopped breathing.

Finally, they all looked to Kayaba to receive the final verdict.

"He's right. This Ring needs to be taken to Mordor. It can only be unmade in Mount Doom, and someone must be the one to deliver it there."

More silence, this time a much longer one, took the entire council with a solemn emotion of confusion and doubt. They all signed up to play a cool new game, and they even signed up to fight in a war to save Kirito, but no one was ready to sacrifice their own selves for it.

That is all but a select few, and just before things grew too dim, Asuna slowly remembered the quote which greeted her during her entrance into the game.

 _"_ _Wow Frodo…"_ She thought with a calm smile as she looked at the tiny gold ring alone on its menacing table. _"Now I know why you took the Ring. You didn't want to, but you needed too…"_

Then, with everyone else silent, Asuna Yuuki stood up with a serious and devoted expression, and a firm hand grasping the handle of _Lambent Light_ on her belt.

"I will take the Ring."

Everyone looked up with pure white eyes, and before they said anything, a large bubble of doubt and fear took Asuna's stomach.

"T-though…" She tried remembering Frodo's exact words. "I do not know the way."

Before she spoke another sentence, Leafa and Lisbeth stepped up and grabbed her hands.

Lisbeth spoke first. "And I'm right with ya, girl. We're gonna burn this ring!"

Leafa nodded with a firm smile and a tight grasp of Asuna's hand. "Yea, and we're gonna save Kirito too."

Asuna laughed, even though she still had no idea how to achieve that end of the quest. Either way things did not stop there as Silica, Sinon, Recon, Klein, and even the still wounded Agil stepped forward.

"Well damn it. If I plan on ever following Kirito into battle again, I guess I gotta follow you, Asuna." Klein gave her a wink and picked up the broken handle of his sword as he tossed it and the item shards into an angry Lisbeth's hands.

Silica ran forward with a large smile. "YEA! We're gonna get Kirito back, then go clear Aincrad once and for all!"

Sinon shrugged as she began to play with her bow. "Yea, I kinda like that idea. Bring us back to the days before this mess."

Asuna nodded and agreed with both of them, and then she looked at a happy but confused Agil.

He laughed and shook his head. "Okay, you sure about this? I mean we never explained this until now, but once you die in the game that's it. You're locked out forever. So if we die…"

Asuna shook her head and walked forward to grab the ring. "Okay, so we won't die."

Everyone in the council laughed or smiled brightly, with the exception of the always serious Kayaba, and the slightly grinning Mortimer, who slowly walked forward to greet Asuna as he re-adjusted his gloves.

"Well, you chose to carry the fate of the entire mission in your hands?" He then curled his lip in an approving manor and looked to see the white tree on her armor.

Finally he laughed as they appeared to bear the same faction. "Very well, if it is the will of the council, then my men in Gondor will see it done."

Chrysheight cracked a great big smile and raised his wizard staff. "Well I'd join you but the original Fellowship only had nine members…that is if I remember correctly from Agil."

Kayaba nodded but raised an open hand towards the group. "Yes, but they will need a guide, and someone to counter Sauron's knowledge of the server. Therefore it gives you 10 on 10 to combat the forces in Mordor. "

Then for the first time all afternoon, Kayaba's ghost smiled at the new task force. "10 companions, and a new Fellowship of the Ring."

The ten soldiers stood tall in a line as everyone cheered with praise and hope. The travelers themselves all smiled and raised weapons on a proud manor, until Silica spoke up first.

"Okay! So where did the heroes go first?"

The large group of nerds raised their hands to answer the question, but Kayaba stopped them with news to the entire group. "Oh no, we will not follow their path, no. We need to create our own. In fact, you all will part for separate ways, and only meet up in the end of it all."

* * *

 **Okay so we're officially leaving most of the _Hobbit_ territory and entering into traditional LOTR settings. The "Council of Kayaba" seemed tense, just like the real one, and we now have a larger cast of characters.**

 **One in particular that might have been the most challenging part of the story for me to write was Mortimer, the mysterious Lordly brother of Eugene from the ALfheim Salamanders. As you know there really isn't that much info on Mortimer in real SAO, which means I basically had to make his personality out of thin air...yes this is one of my least favorite things to do with fan fic. I try to write a good plot/story line, but my #1 goal for writing fan fic is to make sure I write the characters as close to their real life personas as possible (in this case the personalities that Reki Kawahara originally created. For example I like Kirito x Asuna, but I'd never make them do anything Reki wouldn't, just to ensure authenticity. Remember this story is supposed to be "cannon", not an Alternate Universe.) We know nothing about Mortimer, which made making him very uncomfortable for me. Either way as he progresses tell me what you think (If you can't tell...he's sort of the Boromir of the group lol...)**

 **Also Asuna changed her faction! And now she's Gondor! How fitting for my favorite character to tag along with my favorite LOTR realm. I didn't even need to think about it, she just fit Gondor so well! We'll see what the others are doing with their factions too.**

 **ANYWAY! We're heading off into a "Fellowship-esque" style of story here, but they're not going to travel together? Interesting...comment and review your thoughts!**

 _ **(Also this was the first chapter to not use a Tolkien quote for the top. The chapter title came from a song I used to sing with my men's chorus in undergrad, and that song was written with the lyrics of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Ulysses. It just seemed fitting to use a quote from that instead...it really fits the theme though!)**_


	17. 17: Parting Ways for War

_*****Hold on there might be an issue with the website. It's telling me the chapter was never added in the official page, but my Doc Manager and stuff says its there. Hopefully you guys are reading this chapter at some point!*****_

 **Author's Note: Here's number 17! On Friday Kayaba said they're not all going to follow the same path to Mordor, so we'll see what he means by that!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

Parting Ways for War

 _"You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have."_

― Gandalf, _The Lord of the rings_

* * *

The entire room was stilled blazed with ecstatic happiness as the 10 companions made their introduction as the new Fellowship of the Ring. However, before a party took the scene, Kayaba gestured towards the door.

"Very well. Those who are _not_ making the immediate journey, please wait in your rooms for further orders from your direct factions."

"AH!" Everyone comically yelled in laughter and anger, and as the bulk of the nerdy players left the room, they high fived, saluted, and even winked at some of the members taking the ring to Mordor.

Then, as the last one left the room, Kayaba forced the door to the inside shut, and then turned to the new Ring Bearer. "Well, I believe you may now cease the act, Asuna. They're all gone now."

 _*Collapse*_

Asuan's knees hit the ground, and the Ring she just picked up almost left her hands as she quickly moved one palm to her lower left abdomen. She was still planning on taking the ring, but she only declared so as a noble looking leader with an entirely healthy body.

The only problem? She was still wounded from Kirito's black dagger.

Immidiately Mortimer sighed and pulled out a leather flask. "Ah, I was hoping it'd be a lie…truth be told when you volunteered I almost cracked a laugh."

Asuna didn't appreciate the sarcasm as she tried standing up with the help of her friends. "Yea? Well I'm still doing this, regardless of any injury."

Kayaba nodded. "Yes, you most certainly will by the view of your conviction, but I'm afraid that injury is far worse than you realize. You appear to have a wound from a _Morgul Blade_ stuck inside your body."

Lisbeth held Asuna's arm with a worried expression. "Morgul Blade? What's that?"

Chrysheight explained. "It came from the dagger Kirito used to stab Asuna with in Dol Guldur, and apparently it was the same dagger that Klint Rojer used in ALO in the first place. When stabbed it breaks the blade off inside the victim's body, and leaves a deadly trace of poision that if not treated…"

A pause haulted on the wizard's face as everyone looked his way. Then Sinon stepped up. "What? What happens with the blade?"

Chrysheight looked to Agil, who looked equally as uncomfortable, but decided to speak. "It'll turn you into one of those Ringwraiths."

Silence.

Asuna then took a deep sigh. "Well, you guys were right, he might actually have a way of taking over minds without the Ring."

Kayaba nodded. "Now it is very challenging to cure, and actually the only permanent cure is to travel back to the world of Fairies, to ALO, and wait for the official game to be released. However if you do that you will be locked out of MEO until then. Therefore the only chance we have to help you is by using the plant known as _Athelas._ "

"Athelas?" Klein said while scratching his head. "Where do ya find that?"

Kayaba explained. "It's commonly know as _Kingsfoil_ , and although rare it can usually be found…"

"WAIT!" Leafa exclaimed as she started digging through her virtual inventory. "I picked a few plants early on, and one of them gave me a weird achievement called 'Kingsfoil.' I bet that's it!"

Then low and behold, Leafa pulled out a fresh batch of Athelas leaves from her pouch and showed it for everyone to see.

"Nice work girl!" Lisbeth laughed and high fived her, and Kayaba nodded as Leafa handed him the leaves.

"This is more than acceptional for the Fellowship already, but unfortunately only 2 people in this room have high enough stats to turn this into medicine." He then whipped through his menu screen and concocted a new potion for curing the wound of Morgul Blades.

As he walked forward to apply it to Asuna's side, Kayaba continued. "Only Chrysheight and I have been given this power, and I am bound to Rivendell. Therefore however this group wishes to divide, Asuna and Chrysheight must travel together."

Asuna bobbed her head with compliance. "Yea, that sort of makes sense…but what about the rest of the group? How will we begin from here?"

Kayaba stepped back and shot up a large, virtual map of the entire western realm of Middle-Earth. He then began placing point markers with different representative factions.

"Let me see…the group defeated the dragon Smaug, which means you now have access to the powerful armies of Erebor and the Iron Hills. These dwarf lords might come in handy for any raids in the north."

"Oh that can be me!" Lisbeth said with a raise of her hand. "After all I need some more time in those smithies to raise my levels."

Agail stepped forward too. "Yea, and I have the Blue Mountain support from the other side. I can go with Lisbeth to help her secure the dwarves."

Kayaba nodded, but also laughed as he now realized Asuna wasn't the only one to change her faction. While Leafa kept hers the way it was, a Galadhrim elf, Lisbeth appeared to change hers to match the very dwarven kingdoms they rescued from the demo, the Lonely Mountain dwarves of Durin's Folk.

He then nodded with understanding. "Very well, Agil and Lisbeth will head north to secure the dwarves."

Before they continued Klein stepped up. "Hold on, if these guys are staying north, then they can use my boys in the northern rangers to take them all the way there."

Kayaba nodded with hesitation, but liked the idea. "I think that might be a good plan. Klein and his rangers can provide Agil and Lisbeth with an escort through the Misty Mountains."

He then turned the the rest of the group. "And now we move to the middle map. In the central plains of the realm, there is a vast region below the Misty Mountains known as the Riddermark. It is home to the most power army of horse lords in the game, the Kingdom of Rohan."

"Rohan?" Silica stood much taller with the sound of that familiar term and stepped forward. "Like the Rohirrim's home?"

Kayaba delivered a smile. "Yes, precisely. This land is swarmed with armies of Rohan waiting for a new leader. It appears no entering player from ALO has chosen them as a faction…with the exception of you, Silica."

"Me!?" Silica said with a tight grasp of her sword. "I-I'm the only Rohan person?"

"That we know of, yes." Kayaba nodded and carried on to his map. "And these armies are not the only ones in these lands. Therefore the next person who will journey with Silica will be…Leafa."

The blonde elf stood back with awkward eyes and an alert reaction. "Me? Well what do I need in that land?"

Kayaba pointed north of Rohan, around a circular forest of solid yellow/gold. "Here is the wood of Lothlórien, the home of Lady Galadriel and her armies. We do not know who controls this land, but as Mortimer suggests it might be a good place to start finding your good friends Sakuya and Alicia. We can also use those elven armies to our advantage in the final strike on Mordor."

He then went to continue, but Recon stepped up and put his foot down. "Now hold on! If Leafa's going anywhere I'm going with her! That's how Sylphs work!"

Leafa face-palmed to cover her angry red cheeks, and Lisbeth and Silica let out tiny giggles, which caused Asuna and the others to smile as well.

Kayaba then raised an eyebrow and noticed Recon was labeled a Hobbit, and then looked to the darker green forest below Lórien. "Well, if that's the case, we can send the Halfling to Fanghorn to secure the aid of our allies in the forest."

That made Sinon step up with curiosity. "Well hold on, what about the Mirkwood Forest? I had a pretty good group of allies from there too."

"Yes you did…" He then pondered for a moment. "Which is why you'll venture with our middle group as a total of 4 companions, and you'll work like Silica and the rest to secure your army. Then once all of you have gathered forces, you will march down to eastern Gondor and meet the main host for their assault on Mordor."

Sinon nodded, and everyone else realized what their new task was. This left Mortimer to stand out in the middle of the circle.

"Alright then." He said looking right at Asuna and Chrysheight. "We will take our company past the western White Mountains, skip the Gap of Rohan, and head around the northern border of Gondor. From there we'll sail to the lands below the mountains and over to the Anduin, which will take us to Pelennor and Ithilian beyond."

He then drew his great long sword of solid silver steel and slammed the tip into the ground. "Then we'll gather the Realm of Gondor and head east as the first strike into Mordor."

From those final words the Council that Kayaba ordered came to an end. After the group parted they each returned to their rooms or other chambers in Rivendell to prepare for their individual trips throughout Middle-Earth.

* * *

Here Asuna decided to walk off the last of her injured side with a tiny stroll around the perimeter hallways of Rivendell. She enjoyed the breathtaking views and the nature of Imladris so much, she almost regretted volunteering to deliver the Ring to Mount Doom.

"Wow, I doubt that creepy Mordor place will be this pretty…" She tried to smile as she stopped off along a balcony overlooking the river below, but then sighed and let reality return.

"But…Kirito is in Mordor, and I need to get him back." Asuna quickly turned around and went to complete her little lap around the palace, but as she returned to the larger halls, a great big room with an elaborate marble statue caught her eye, and as she wondered inside she noticed the statue looked to be guarding a lone table of sorts. In fact it almost looked like a leaf shaped shield being cradled in the statue's delicate hands.

Then, as she approached the make-shift alter, it appeared that the great stone table had a silk blanket covering its top, and resting over it all laid several shards of the most beautiful sword Asuna had ever seen. It looked as graceful and shiny as _Lambent Light_ , but at the same time appeared to be even bigger and sharper as the _Elucidator_ or even the legendary _Excaliber_ sword of ALfheim.

Asuna paused for a moment with her mouth agape, and slowly reached over to grab the large silver and gold handle with its rigid black hilt. It weighed as much as a full sword in SAO, despite the fact that the broken blade attached to the end of the handle was only about a foot and a half long.

She held it up in view of the window, and watched as a single ray of sunlight shone in from the outside, and as the light pierced off the edge of the silver so beautifully, it almost looked like a mirror forged in steel. She even lowered it in a measured slicing motion to re-enact a battle scene, but kept her two hands steady just in case she dropped it.

Then, another figure entered into the room to admire her curiosity.

"Ah, I see you care more about exploring the palace than setting up for your next adventure."

Asuna almost fumbled the sword out of hand and swiftly placed it back on the table. She then turned to find a softly smiling Akihiko Kayaba standing in the doorway with his arms behind his back.

Kayaba shrugged and continued walking. "Well if that is the case, we can always arrange for another Ring Bearer to deliver the prize to Mordor."

Asuna stopped panicking and let out a sigh. "No, I was just looking around before we left. This place is so pretty, I almost think I'll miss it."

She looked out towards the sun as Kayaba joined her in front of the alter. He then smiled and noticed her placement of the handle was not in the right location and then reached out to properly adjust the heirloom.

"I also see that you've managed to find the _Shards of Narsil._ This is quite a remarkable sword, and may even be the most impressive blade I've ever seen inside the Virtual World."

Asuna nodded and looked back down at its magnificence. "It really is. Why is it still broken?"

Kayaba laid out his hands and extended his arms a long the edge of the table and pondered that thought. "I'm not sure. I was told by a few of our more experienced guests that when repaired this blade will present itself to the worthy ruler of Gonder, if he were to show his face…"

He then looked down at Asuna's white tree breast plate and smiled. "Actually, I was planning on sending it with your blacksmith friend, Lisbeth was it? I believe she might be able to re-forge it in her dwarven halls. That is if the necessary tools present themselves to her."

Asuna liked the sound of that and glossed over the longest middle shard with a graze of her finger. "I bet she'd like that. Then we can use it to take down that creepy Sauron guy."

Kayaba would have nodded, but then noticed Asuna's face change from happy to determined, then almost doubtful.

"I just…I just wish none of this ever happened…" She then let a tiny tear form under one of her eyes and spoke up. "I wish Kirito never found that dagger _…*sob*…_ I wish we never would have met Klint or Annatar…and I wish this Ring never would have come to me. I _*sob*_ I had no business taking it in the first place. I was just…"

Kayaba stood with a long pause as Asuna let her few tears fall. He would have reached out and placed a hand of comfort on her shoulders, but he was merely a ghost stuck in the VR world.

Instead he decided to leave her with an encouraging thought.

"So do I," Kayaba admitted "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

Asuna stopped crying for a moment and opened her eyes wider, and as she turned Kayaba continued.

"The men and women at _Mystic Gaming_ developed a very complex environment full of extraordinary works of art. Annatar knows that, and he also knows his creations of evil and malice are not the only forces at work in this world. It's almost as if…you were meant to find that Ring, which means you were meant to save Kirito."

Asuna had to collect the thought for a moment before it finally hit her. She then looked back out to the sun, and just as she took a breath, one last tear fell from her eye.

It was a tear of hope.

"Yea…yea, you're right. We're going to finish this game once and for all."

Later that evening and into the night, all members of the retreating Fellowship decided to get an early night's rest before their quest took off in the morning.

However, to keep things from getting far too emotional, Lord Mortimer of the Realm of Gondor decided to prepare his men, and gather Asuna and Chrysheight for an earlier departure than all the others.

"Well, this will be interesting travelling with a Wizard. Not to mention one of the players who defeated the dragon from the demo quest." He nodded to Asuna and Chrysheight with appraisal as he turned to face the forward trail. "Now we will quickly make for the Southern Road, past the Fords of Isen, and head down below the White Mountains to unite the forces of Gondor for our war to come."

As Mortimer led the midnight march, Chrysheight the Blue nodded but looked to his partner in travels for the journey, Asuna. He noticed she had an odd emotion about her and decided to ask a question.

"So, you don't feel bad about missing your friends on the way out, do you?"

Asuna shrugged and delivered a quick smile. "I thought about it like that, but I'm sure I'll see them in a day or two, so I didn't want to worry them."

"HA! Well I figured you'd say something like that, and apparently so did Lisbeth…" Chrysheight laughed and swiped open his menu.

Then with Asuna looking with curiosity, he quickly pulled out a player package and tossed it over to Asuna. "Here, she actually found this in the Halls of Erebor, but never knew what to do with it. In light of your recent events, Lisbeth figured it would suit you more than anyone else…"

Asuna had no hesitation with opening her package on horse back, and as it came to view, a shiny but light-weight piece of white chain armor floated down from the menu and gracefully into her hands.

 _"_ _Mithril?"_ She read the name with a pause for effect. The mystic looking chain mail left her in awe as it shined brightly under the moon, with sparkles of white and silver, but as she played with the foilings in her hands, she also noticed the material was harder then even the greatest of steel.

Chrysheight shrugged. "Mithril is said to be so valuable it is only found in the lowest levels of the Misty Mountains, so use it wisely."

Asuna laughed at that and quickly equipped it without adding any excess weight to under her regular Gondor tunic. She then re-arranged the horse's reins and smiled into the night. "Right, now we're fully set to take on Mordor."

* * *

 **Okay no battles or action, but that chapter covered a lot:**

 **-Asuna's still hurt, but the Kingsfoil might do the trick.**

 **-The Fellowship has made their parting decision (also they're all holding unique factions now! Asuna-Gondor, Lisbeth-Durin's Folk, Leafa-Galadhrim, Agil-Blue Mountain Dwarves, Silica-Rohan, Klein-Ranger, Sinon-Mirkwood Elf, Recon-Hobbit, Chysheight-Wizard, Kirito-Morgul...hehe Tell me what your favorite is!)**

 **-Asuna seems down (or it's probably the Ring messing with her mind. She's normally not this pessimistic. Plus we got ol' Kayaba dropping Gandalf quotes! (And Narsil!)**

 **-Asuna has Mithril!**

 **Okay, from here we're going to follow their individual paths, and this section is going to be pretty fun because it explores all the characters a bit more than usual. Hope you enjoy! Comment and Review!**


	18. 18: A Dangerous New Journey

**Author's Note: Well that was a little odd yesterday. Did you guys get the chapter later than usual? I released it about 10:00 am (morning) where I'm am, but I got home and checked it at like 6:00 or 7:00 pm (evening) and it wasn't uploaded! I hope you guys can still read the content...**

 **Anyway this is the journey beginning to unfold. We're gonna keep it semi-simple and follow Asuna and Chrysheight today as they join Mortimer and Gondor on the ride south!**

 **Also I do not own Sword Art Online or the _Lord of the Rings._ **

**_(Also, this point in writing the story on Microsoft Word my spell and grammar check stopped working because the document grew too long? I dunno, basically from here on out I was typing blind. I work very hard to try and spot as many errors as I can find when I do my edits, and even when I transferred it over here I used this website's (rather terrible) spell checker. That being said apologies if the rest of the story contains goofy spelling errors or typos.)_**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

A Dangerous New Journey

 _"It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing"._

― Boromir, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

Asuna and her company of Chrysheight, Mortimer, and 30 Gondorian knights made their way towards the south from Rivendell on to the White Mountains and green plains of Gondor. This route through the south was not only dangerous, but it was practically non-existent. They rounded away from Rivendell down the Loudwater River and right to the fork at Tharbad. From there the company would take a troupe of horses along the Greyflood down to the lower west and into the old ruins of the ancient port Lond Daer or "Great Havens."

After coming in too close to the southern foothills, Mortimer instructed that the party needed to start from the crossing and head down the path directly southwest. This would steer them away from an uninhabited section of the great River Isen, which left Asuna a little uneasy.

"I don't understand the route we're taking." Asuna had decided to lay out a map at the captain's camp one night as they came of the main road. She laid it out for Mortimer and Chrysheight to see, and started pointing out her concerns. "For example, what's wrong with just following the South Road through Rohan and around the north end of the mountains? Silica is a Rohan class, which means they must be good guys."

Mortimer laughed and started smoking a pipe while he sat around the camp's table. "Yes, Rohan is good, but we don't know if it's _safe_ yet. To be quite fair we don't know much about the route we're taking now either, but it's the one we were instructed to take from Klint after leaving the Capital."

Chrysheight looked confused by those roders. "That is strange. Why did Klint want us all to abandon the main road north? Does he know something we don't?"

"No." Mortimer said flatly. "Because he explained it to us. In the regular Rings series the Gap of Rohan is guarded by evil armies, including a powerful White Wizard who sits at the northern valley building an army. Now we could have used this as a nice scouting mission and killed two birds with one stone, but we happen to be carrying precious cargo." He laughed and gestured to Asuna's loose Ring around her neck, which prompted her to uncomfortably stuff it back inside her chest armor.

"For all we know Sauron could have stuffed one of his goony employees or Ringwraiths up at that valley, and planned for us to fall into his hands." Mortimer then tapped the map sighting their location. "This road has no new land inhabitants until we reach our allies in Gondor. We'll stop in the port ruins of Edhellond, and make our way around the realm to build an army. "

Asuna ignored that explaination, because she was still caught up on the dangerous valley. "Hold on, that's the gap that Leafa and her group are supposed to take. Did anyone tell them it might be dangerous?!"

"No." Mortimer blew out a large ball of smoke and stood up. "They're gonna be our make-shift scouts. They know to expect some form of danger, but we'll use them as a test to see whether or not the valley is really…"

 _*Slam*_

Asuna slapped the table with her hands and alerted the entire camp of 30 or so players. She then gathered the full attention of a shocked Chrysheight and a grinning Mortimer, who looked very entertained to here her thoughts.

"You used my friends as bait for a mission you were too scared to take on yourself? You have 30 men, they have nothing!"

Mortimer shrugged. "They have those silly rings Annatar gave them, do they not? Without the One Ring being in his hands those lesser Rings of Power are almost free weapons as far as I'm concerned, cheat codes as you will. Besides, that little blonde Sylph has the strongest one too, she'll be fine. Not to mention the fact that she's traveling with the Dragon Slayer."

Asuna remained leaning over the table with her eyes narrowed in Mortimer's direction. He then laughed and walked around the table, and before he made for his tent he reached out and patted her on the shoulder for sarcasm.

"Relax, in a few days your only concern will be rounding up the army of your people. That _is_ why you chose Gondor, isn't it?"

Asnua ignored his humor, and slapped his hand off her arm. She then started breathing with further anger as Mortimer left, and his two body guards awkwardly stepped away as well.

Then Asuna let out a sigh and let her head softly smack against the table. "Well, there are only four of them. Maybe there is no danger, or maybe they'll get out okay."

Chrysheight felt weird laughing at that, but it appeared like Asuna was already calmed down. "Hopfefully so. I suppose it's good to feel concern for them either way."

Asuna looked up and nodded. "Plus Lisbeth and her group are heading back north. I'll be worried about all of them the entire time!"

Chrysheight smiled again. "Well I'm sure they'll be thankful to hear that! And I imagine they'll be concerned for you as well."

Asuna nodded, but then paused for a moment before looking back up to the blue wizard. "H-Hey Chrysheight, can I ask you something?"

The tall magician looked anxious to hear her question. "Y-Yes sure Asuna, anything."

Asuna took a deep breath and sat up straight to begin. "You came in as a fake employee right…is it true about dying in the game? If we die in the game, will our character be locked out for good?"

"…" Chrysheight was waiting for her to ask that at some point. Rumors were briefly mentioned back in Rivendell, but no one had more than a rough estimate on the in-game death mechanic.

Asuna held her hands together. "I-I heard Agil talking about it when we all stepped up to make the quest. That's pretty hard to stomach. I mean, if we die, then we're locked out for good, and we can't reach anyone inside the game unitl it's done."

"Or until the full game is released." Chrysheight finished for her. "But at this rate it appears that won't be Sauron's ultimate objective for a long time. Yes, it is hard to imagine. I mean if you or I go down, how will we be able to comfortably sit in wait back in the real world while everyone else finishes the fight?"

Asuna nodded, and truly took in the weight of the situation, but then the wizard supplied her with a smile.

"But then again, if we kill an enemy, then we lock them out of the game as well, which pretty much saves their soul from Sauron's grip, and if we manage to kill a Ringwraith..."

Asuna let out a glowing yell. "We can figure out how to kill Kirito!"

She stood up with fists in the air as the knights around the camp stopped to look her way. Asuna's face was now flushed red with complete embaressment from her choice of words.

"Ahehehe…I mean…you know what I mean."

Chrysheight laughed and stood up from his stump. "Yes I do, don't you worry. Now let's get some rest. We share neighboring tents in the center of the camp. Eugene wanted me bunking near your tent to have my magic by the Ring at all time."

Asuna shrugged. "That's fine. Other than you I'm not totally comfortable with everyone in the camp anyway."

Asuna then turned to walk for the center of the camp, but on her way in she looked around at all the white trees on fields of black she could find, from banners and flags, to armor and clothing.

The she let out a sigh as she located her tent. _"Although, I guess I probably do need to get comfortable with them eventually. After all Mortimer seems like he's grooming me for a position in command…ugh if I had to guess, I'd say I'm gonna start getting flashbacks from my days in the Knights of the Blood Oath."_

* * *

The next day Asuna awoke to a cool chill for a strong wind coming in from a crack in the top of her tent. She tossed and turned trying to gather up as much of the thin blankets she could, but to no avail the chill would not die down.

Then, she woke to a very loud and obnoxious sound as a loud war horn blew through the tiny encampment to wake the last of the sleeping soldiers.

The only one it needed to wake was Asuna.

"AHHH!" Her head shot up like her tent was on fire. Asuna reached out to grab her sword in fear, and then stopped to hear a yelling voice from outside her tent.

"We mount in ten minutes Ring Bearer! See that we don't leave you in the camp!"

"Ugh… _Mortimer_ …" Asuna rolled her eyes and slammed backwards to let her head fall comfortably back onto her then grabbed both sides and curled them around her head as she rolled around the floor of her tent with mild anger, and then released her grip to let out a sigh.

"Fine…" She told herself. "But I'm taking a nice bed when we get to this capital city they keep talking about."

Asuna rolled over to stand, but then noticed she didn't have the Ring directly equipped to her outfit anymore. This caused her to panic, until a tiny little light flash from behind her head.

"Mommy, the Ring is in your bag, remember?" Said the little Middle-Earth pixie Yui as she tapped her head with a finger.

Asuna laughed for a little bit and then smiled. "Yea, I remember Yui, thank you though for trying to help."

Yui nodded, but then crossed her arms as if she were uncomfortable. "I tried to attach it for you, but I was blocked out from touching the Ring in your inventory…"

Asuna started putting on an undershirt for her tunic and then contemplated what Yui said. "Wow, that's actually pretty weird…on second thought maybe it's a good idea. I'd feel better if you just stayed away from the Ring Yui. I'd hate for it to corrupt your data or anything like that."

After precisely ten minutes, Asuna came out of her tent and dusted off fine pieces of grass from her blackened tunic. She then swiped the spot above the tent door with a hand, and collapsed the virtual object to make it tiny enough to stuff back into her character inventory.

As she made a slow stroll over to the command horses, Mortimer and Chrysheight both smiled on her slow walk over.

Mortimer made the first comment as he took a drink from his leather flask. "Well, maybe you're not fit to command the forces of Gondor against the enemy after all. And here I was told you were the legendary Vice-Commander of SAO's most powerful guild."

Asuna rolled her eyes and gave her horse a pat on the head before making her mount. "Yea? Well it's been a while, and I'm sure I can out rank anyone in your group any day." She then jumped on her steed with little effort and turned it towards the southwest.

"But until then, I'll follow your lead… _Captain_."

Mortimer smiled and nodded at her sarcastic comment, and then passed her to lead the group south. Chrysheight hit behind his glasses while he shook his head with discomfort, and form their Asuna and the other 30 men made their march on towards the lower Greyflood.

As they mad the ride beside the river, Asuna spoke up to Mortimer. "So what did you guys take boats all the way from Gondor?"

"HA!" Mortimer howled with a laugh, and threw and apple core from his road breakfast off into the distance. "Little Lady you must always ask the good questions. Yes, me and my men road horses through south Gondor and took long barges from the Anduin up around the cape, and into Eriador. Hopefully if player raiders haven't found them they'll still be there, but the map is big and there aren't that many players coming over from ALO."

"Really?" Asuna said with a pause. "Wow, it sounded like a lot."

Mortimer shrugged and took another drink from his cantine. "Eh, compared to ALO it's a small crowd, and this map is three times the size, so maybe that's it? I dunno…"

Mortimer then took a deep breath as he continued to ride. "This game sure is something. It's like ALO, but there seems to be a whole lot more stuffed inside. The world is pretty easy to look at, and the NPCs are ungodly brilliant."

"Yea they are…" Asuna felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered her confrontation with the Dragon Smaug.

That reaction left Mortimer curious. "So tell me…what was the dragon like?"

"Ah…um he was big?" Asuna didn't want to have this conversation. "He was also red…and kind of gold."

"What is this, Kindergarden?" Mortimer said with sarcasm. "More than that! Was his fire even hot? I heard he burnt down an entire village."

"Only half of one." Asuna corrected. "I-I mean if you're referring to Lake-town. He had other ruins, but I think they were placed in before the game."

"Ah…" Mortimer then grinned as he looked forward. "And what about the gold…was there a lot?"

"…" Asuna wasn't comfortable anymore. "I-I mean yea. We just left it there though, so I guess when Lisbeth and her team go back up they'll find it again."

"Man…" Mortimer let out with satisfaction. "Maybe I chose the wrong group to escort!" He laughed and turned to another chuckling Gondor knight who also happened to be a player, and then high fived him from the joke.

Asuna rolled her eyes. "You do realize this game will never be released, right? There's no point to hold on to any of this stuff if the world gets deleted or taken over by the GM."

Mortimer shrugged. "Eh, then I guess you're right…in that case maybe we oughta speed up our ride in order to save Kirito in time."

Asuna slowed her horse down, because after that clearly directed comment she decided it was time to get out of Mortimer's bubble for a while. They were already out travelling for a week, and she had no idea how any of her friends were doing.

Now she was starting to lose her patience for everyone except Chrysheight, who was currently wondering on the edge of the party with his head down in a paper map.

Finally, Mortimer looked ahead and whistled to the core of his group. "And there we are! The fallen port of Great Haven."

Asuna looked over the hills to find a series of ruins stacked up besdie the shores of the great sea to the west. She also saw a fleet of 3 long white ships with flat decks and great black sails rolling in the ocean breeze.

Mortimer snapped to one of his guards and gestured forward. "Make a survey of the port for us. Don't bother riding all the way in."

The Gondor player nodded and road his brown horse faster than the rest of the group as he raced to look ahead, but as he made his advancement, Asuna let out a shrieking yell in panic.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Everyone was thinking the same thing as a swift and nearly invisible arrow flew over their party's head and shot the Gondor scout in the back from an impressive but deadly distance. The man rolled off his horse in pain and caused the rest of the group to turn around, and there they found several large brown beasts with orcs riding their way.

"WHAT!?" Mortimer hissed as he drew a sword. "Wargs?! But how did they know we'd be here!?"

Asnua thought the same thing, but then heard Chrysheight yelling something from the far side of the group.

"GET THE RING BEARER TO THE SHIPS! NOW!"

She turned to see what would provoke such a dramatic order, but then relized the peril on the back end of the flanking orc's group was worse than she thought.

Riding behind the row of wargs were three shrouded Black Riders, who looked just like some of the 9 Nazgûl on horse back.

Asuna clutched the Ring of evil around her neck and somehow verified none of them were the leader Kirito, but none the less they were at one time heavily skilled players from ALO, and now deadly servants of Sauron and Mordor.

Now, with all the haste in the world, Asuna followed a small group of four horsemen for the closest boat to the shore. She tried dodging arrows that were being shot from behind, but made no real attempt to turn around.

Meanwhile, Chrysheight turned to shoot out a dark ball of blue fire, and then drew his sword _Glamdring_ as the enemy host came too close. The blue magic flames scared the Ringwraiths away for a minor period of time, but the head orcs road right in and began combat with the wizard and several men of Gondor.

At that time as well, Mortimer was taking out several wargs and orcs on his own. His skills were not as great as his brother Eugene's, but the ex-Salamander-turned-Gondorian knew just how to fight, and how to kill and enemy.

Slashing them all with his silver and gold sword of the south, Mortimer laid all his strength into each blow, and then commanded his troops to make their own move. "Take the rest of the orcs down now! When they're all finished we'll let the wizard shoot another waning to those wraiths. We can all by time to enter the boats then!"

He expected to hear a responded call, but turned to find a swift black horsemen riding over a hill and jumping to his side, and as he turned the fell monstrous shadow drew a blade and began its combat.

Mortimer was locked in an epic battle on horse back with this enemy from Mordor, and as they blocked each other back and forth, he slowly noticed Chrysheight was also battling one on the far hill to the right.

Then, he thought for a moment with the break in battle, and realized he was now one Ringwraith short.

"Ah fuck…" He sighed, and just as he turned around, he looked up the hill behind him to find the most bizarre sight of the trip.

Asuna Yuuki had ridden her horse to the back of his battle, and knocked the third Ringwraith from its horse, just as it went to land a deathly blow to Mortimer's back.

The former Salamander was left in awe, but quickly brought up arms again to his own enemy. He then stuck out a few more blows with his sword, and then noticed Asuna coming in to help.

But just as he turned back to fight, the ground wraith slashed the back legs of his stallion clean to the bone, and force Mortimer to fall off and onto his back.

The Gondor leader yelled in pain as he got up, but as he turned to combat the original Ringwraith, the grounded one stuck its short but menacing _Morgul Blade_ right through his heart, and drew it out to release a small amount of blood all over the hill grass below.

"MORTIMER!" Asuna yelled with fire in her voice, and as she cried out she noticed a blazing ball of darkened fire come soaring over the nearby hill to smash into the face of the grounded wraith.

The pathetic creature ran around like a headless chicken, while the other road off on its horse to combat Chrysheight. Meanwhile Asuna jumped off her horse to kneel down before her fallen ally.

Mortimer coughed up virtual blood and let out a laugh. "I was right after all…I knew I should have gone north with those dwarves."

Asuna rolled her eyes and reached into her item pouch, but as she did Mortimer grabbed her wrist.

"Save it kid, you're going to have to make the trip on your own."

Asuna looked confused and tried to reason with him, but before she said a word, Mortimer's eye caught a tiny little glow coming form her neck line.

It was her Ring, the One Ring to rule them all. As Asuna bent down over his body, the tiny little gold band fell out of her neck line and dangled over his injured chest from her chained necklace.

Mortimer paused for a moment, and as his eyes started to look empty of all life, he slowly reached up towards her neck.

Asuna was left in pure shock and awe as she had no idea how to react. She was trying to give Mortimer the benefit of the doubt, but if continued to try and take the Ring off her neck she was almost ready to drop him right then and there.

However, just as she tried pushing away from the fallen commander, a blinding flash of blue light covered her vision, and then she saw a blue clothed arm reach down and grab her by the waist.

Then before she knew it, Asuna was one board the only white barge set to sail southward. She turned as the blinding light began to fade and noticed two other Gondor soldiers managed to grab the wounded Mortimer as well, and as she looked to find herself now riding behind Chrysheight, she quickly jumped off the white horse of the wizard and walked to the stern of the boat.

In the hazy distant view of the shore the remainder of orcs and enemy commanders were yelling and growling with anger. However, the one thing that scared her the most were the three empty faces of blackened shadow that stared at her and the cowardly Gondor boatmen as they road off into the mysterious sea of the west.

* * *

 **Oh how depressing, now Mortimer's been stabbed! He's like Asuna's blood brother or something, lol...no? Okay.**

 **Also this group went waaaaaay off the regular map in the films. That was a fun path to write, but the next two will get you back to your familiar scenery in the regular series (Lisbeth, Agil, and Klein tomorrow?)**

 **Comment and Review! The adventure continues :)**


	19. 19: The Bridge and the Flame

**Author's Note: Okay here's the second leg of the Fellowship journey! We're going with Lisbeth, Klein, and Agil back to Erebor! And we're gonna take quite the route getting there...**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

The Bridge and the Flame

 _"Moria... You fear to go into those mines. The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame."_

― Saruman the White, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

Returning to the day after Asuna and her company left, a second group made their departure from Rivendell at the first sight of dawn. Preferring to travel at daylight rather than night, Lisbeth, Agil, Klein, and his selection of 20 or so Rangers in the North made their way east for a direct passage over the Misty Mountains and back the same way they left for the mighty mountain kingdom of Erebor.

Now starting to collect some déjà vu from the demo playthrough, Lisbeth began to remember the first trip her and the other girls took a crossed the sky high mountains. "Man, I really do want to go back to the Lonely Mountain, but making the same trip twice in a row is really boring…ugh if only we had some way of fast travelling!"

"True that!" Klein yelled as he started eating several loaves of bread he took from Rivendell as his breakfast. "Hey Agil, remind me why that ain't an option for us this time?"

The tall man dressed in blue dwarven armor sighed and carried on horseback from the rear of the group. "Well, we think the game unlocks fast travel after you beat the demo, and once you've unlocked a place or town, then you've unlocked the ability to return to that marker. However Sauron probably disabled this feature with the reveal of his new title. You know he is really into the realism in this world, so maybe he did it to make things more challenging for everyone."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Klein yelled in confusion. "Why would you give yourself a handicap like that just to hurt the enemy as well, even though they don't already know the map as is!? Isn't that supposed to be enough of a sabotage?"

Agil shrugged. "I guess not. Heck, look what happened to private messaging, and even item transfers! You can only do stuff like that in the direct vicinity of the connecting party. That means if we wanna transfer items with anyone else in the Fellowship, our only option is finding them in person."

"Hmph!" Lisbeth crossed her arms and let her horse ride auto-pilot for a moment as she stressed her concerns. "That was like the only reason I was so giddy to return to Erebor…I figured I could just fast travel there and get my mission out of the way."

"Ah I mean don't say it like that!" Klein said with a laugh. "I bet there's lots of stuff you missed on your first ride out east!" He then looked her way with a grin. "Maybe you can even avoid getting captured by goblins this time?"

"WHA-!?" Lisbeth nearly fell off her horse in a flurry of anger and embaressment. She then held up a fist and waved it in Klein's direction. "LISTEN PAL YOU _DO_ REMEMBER WHO SAVED YOUR BUTT FROM ANNATAR IN DOL GULDUR RIGHT!?"

Klein slapped his knee and ignored Agil shaking his head. "Ah relax! I was just playin! Hey that reminds me anyway. Agil and I took the route right through Goblin town last time, but I hear the three of you ladies took a different route south of that and passed through an old mine?"

Lisbeth stopped looking angry and took the bait. "Oh, you guys heard about the whole thing? Well…yea we did find a really cool dungeon under the mountains."

Despite Lisbeth slowly joining in on the story, she quickly became giddy at the thought of seeing the old dwarven hall again. "Oh it was so cool! The room was super gigantic, and there were so many little halls and columns and treasure rooms, and we even found a smith and forge!"

"Really?" Even Agil started sounding intrigued. "Man, we took some early mini-quests in our mission, and we even made it out to the Blue Mountains. Those dwarves had a few cool forts and cities, but they didn't have any great big halls like the ones you keep describing in Moria." Although Agil had not been there, he was tyring to use all the knowledge he had from watching the movies that he could.

Lisbeth smiled once again. "Oh yea! These guys are called Durin Dwarves or something? Anyway…they have really cool treasure rooms in all their kingdoms, and the one under the Misty Mountains isn't even inhabited by anyone!"

"No way!" Klein's eyes quickly changed from their normal brown to gold with money signs as he started smiling a little too big. "Whoo hoo! I'm startin to like this quest a whole lot better all ready!"

"Hold on." Agil said trying to bring reality back into the conversation. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we're not going down that way. We need to stick to the High Pass and make our way to Mirkwood as sson as possible. Maybe if the treasure at Erebor is still there we'll get a piece of that instead."

Lisbeth and Klein both lowered their heads for a moment of sorrow, until Lisbeth snapped her fingers with a sly expression.

"Hye Agil, have you tried setting up any shop deals in this game yet? I bet you miss item trading and merchandising, huh?"

"Oh don't you even get me started. "Agil said with a laugh in his voice. "We probably won't be playin this game once we get Kirito out, so I don't need to waste any time gathering itmes."

"True…" Lisbeth said with another sly tone. "But this route isn't that far off course. Plus it might give me an early shot to finish the mission Kayaba gave me." She was of course referring to the great longsword cut into shards called _Narsil_ , which was now fully in her possession and her responsibility to forge into a new blade.

Lisbeth carried on. "And I know you don't wanna waste time gathering useless items in MEO, but what about for _ALO?_ "

Agil stopped riding and let her finish. "What are you getting at Lisbeth?"

The pink haired black smith kept moving her horse forward as she shrugged her shoulders. "Oh nothing…except the fact that we might be able to transfer items from MEO into ALO…including all the goodies you might find in these dungeons."

Agil didn't want to admit it, but he was now shaking his head with a smile of forfeit. "Alright, I'll bite. If you really think it's safe…let's take a quick detour down to Moria and see what we can find."

"Yes!" Lisbeth ran ahead with her horse singing a tune of victory, and while she did Agil found Klein riding up next to him and received a pat on the shoulder from the sarcastic samuri.

"Man…she totally played you like a fiddle!"

* * *

After a little less than a week's time the crew of dwarves and rangers found themselves climbing into the snowy peaks of the lower Misty Mountains. Here Lisbeth did her absolute best to try and remember the path into the ancient dwarven city of Khazad-Dûm.

As she did Agil and Klein followed in her trail, followed by the bulk of Klein's men. Here Klein decided to spark up more conversation regarding the dungeon. "So Lis, what were you and the others doing this far down in the first place? Were you guys trying to find extra treasure, or quest, or…?"

Lisbeth looked up through the emerging cold fog and tried to carry the conversation. "Kayaba mentioned this placed called Moria when we asked about the mountains. I started picking his brain once he talked about an old mine and forge, and from there I sorta dictated our path from the first quest."

"Oh…" Klein said as the snow started falling. "So it's safe to say you got everyone captured by goblins."

"…" Lisbeth was almost out of patience. "You're not gonna drop that are you?"

Klein laughed and gave her a smile. "Hehe not until I see ya take out a goblin to redeem yourself!"

Lisbeth rolled her eyes and tried riding faster. "Look there were only three of us, and we didn't even have a little escort of 'Robin Hood' guys like you do. There were like hundreds of those little monsters and they were creepy as hell...if we get in here and you run home scared don't say I didn't warn you."

"HA!" Klein howled. "But come on you never said there'd be that many until now! Is there anything else Agil and I should know before we head in here on your lead?"

Lisbeth passed and took several short blinks before she carried on. "I'm sorry…just thought you knew what happened to us. You're sounding so smart mouthed over there I can never really tell."

Klein decided to settle her down and pat her on the shoulder just like he did for Agil, but this only made things worse as Lisbeth nearly fell off her horse in response.

Klein ignored her jump and tried making a truse. "Look, you like smithing things or smelting things or whatever, so let me reason with you. I go you gave me back the broken pieces to my katana...but I'll let you have one more chance to tinker with it inside this place as much as you want! But I'll only do it once I see you kill a goblin."

"Are you trying to piss me off!?" Lisbeth turned her horse and let several rangers pass by her and Klein as she made her argument. "I told you I did kill some!"

Klein raised his hands. "I believe you! But I still wanna see it. So there, I'll give you my broken weapon to work on…if you'd rather change it up I'll take anything off your hands that's burning a hole in your pocket."

"Mmff." Lisbeth tried shutting up before she made any regrets. She then stopped and thought for a moent before letting out a breath and opening her inventory.

"Here." She said nonchalantly as she tossed Klein a tiny golden object with a red ruby on the top.

"That's my _'gift'_ from Annatar. He's really creepy, and I don't want his Ring anymore, so Merry Chrstmas…also it's fire resistant or something."

"Ah sweet really?!" Klein lit up like a child on his birthday and put it on. "Hehe! Man I was just joking since it's really just more work for you, but now I'll have to make due! I mean I probably won't let you have it til we get there, but it does need fixing!"

"AGH!" Lisbeth almost fell off her horse again as her rage forced her shoulders to tense up. She then paused her mount for a quick moment and then noticed Klein and Agil continue to ride before she let out a sigh and carried on.

"Ugh…maybe if I'm lucky I'll die in the mine…or I won't be lucky and one of those two will probably save me."

Then, before she could say another word to her self in silence, Agil yelled from the front of the pack. "HEY! IS THIS THE DOOR!?"

Lisbeth's head shot up as she looked over the long end of the lake and saw her company staing in front of the glowing door of Moria. She then remembered hearing a creepy monster with Asuna and Leafa on her first journey in and made her horse perform a dead sprint for the entrance.

"YEA YEA IT IS… _MELON!_ "

"What the…?" Klein said as Lisbeth charged forward yelling something about green fruit. He then scratched his head. "No I mean I just ate, but all's I have is bread…"

"No! It means friend or something, I dunno!" She sighed as she stoped the horse and forced the door to open on her mysic choice of words. Lisbeth then dismounted her horse and made for the inside. "Hurry and drop the horses if you don't want to die!"

"HUH?" Agil and Klein both replied with shocked expressions as they looked at Lisbeth like a crazy person. They then started to hear the lake behind them rumble and bubble at the surface, which promted Agil to relocate his forgetful memory from the movies.

"Oh damn she's right! Let's go!" Agil hopped off his horse and signaled for the rangers to do the same. Klein continued to scratch his head and slowly followed them in.

"I don't get it guys, are we running from something?" He said with a casual face and clueless eyes. Lisbeth turned around to yell in his direction, but froze from inside the mine as a giant greenish blue kracken like monster emerged from the lake to charge forward and attack Klein.

However, lucky for the samuri armor, he managed to get inside quick enough without panicking, which forced the crepy watcher from the water to slam its tenacles into the side of the cliff and force the mine shut with an avalanche.

As the cave was now stolen from the moonlight outside, Agil turned on a hand held torch item, and he managed to get it on right when Lisbeth ran over and slapped Klein in the face.

"AGH!" He cried out holding on to his cheek. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Idiot!" She screamed in his face. "You almost died, or even worse you almost got the rest of us killed!"

Klein started laughing. "I did? What did I cause that avalanche to fall or something?"

"Agh…grr…" Lisbeth was trying to comprehend how he managed to remain oblivious from the Watcher on the Wall, but as a result she simply sighed and conserved her energy. "Forget it…come on, it'll take a while to get outta this stinkin place."

Now several miles inside the halls of Moria, Agil and Lisbeth led the way with his torch and her map. They kept to the greater halls of columns and dwarven stone, which eventually led them to the same great hall that Lisbeth and her friends found on their first lap through.

Now trying desperately to relocate her old forge room, Lisbeth took the torch from Agil's hand and ran up the side of the hall. This trip was taking a lot longer than the last time, and instead of just being a group of 3 elves, Lisbeth as now travelling with a whole host of warriors.

She kept her feet small and quiet to avoid making too much noise, but then finally lit up brighter than her handheld fire as she found a familiar door.

"Hehe! Found the smithy!" She threw open the doors with Klein and Agil quickly on her tail, and ran ahead to find her old station.

Agil lingered back as Klein and his men entered the room, and as he did the tall brute of a dwarf grabbed a low hanging torch and stayed alert. "Alright, this place is giving me some major creeps. We'll find a few pieces of goodies to take and then we head right back on track."

Klein agreed, but kept walking into the large stone forge, and as he did he was stopped as Lisbeth placed a hand on his chest.

"Okay, sword please."

"What?" Klein said as she looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He then laughed. "Oh right! But hey I haven't seen you kill anything yet…maybe I oughta wait and see…"

Lisbeth reached down and pulled out the shards of his _Karakurenai_ katana sword right from his hands without waiting for a response, and continued to march forward to her smithy. Klein shot after her with bugged out eyes and a sweaty brow.

"WHOA BE CAREFUL WITH IT! THAT'S MY BABY!" Klein insisted she give him a second to see it off until she turned to stick a flaming hot cast iron fire poker right in his face.

She then let out a grin. "I'm sorry, but I'm busy working now…go bother Agil." She then turned to begin her work with his prized weapon.

"Agh…man okay." Klein took his defeat and slowly walked over to Agil at the door. As he made it over his attitude changed. "Hey man, you still happy to take that sword from me way back in that cave?"

"Hah, why do you ask?" Agil said as he patted his slightly new _Orcrist_ blade hanging on his belt like a trophy. "Glad it isn't too big. It's a lot easier to carry than that ax on my back."

Klein fell to his bottom. "Ah never mind…I'm just regretting giving Lisbeth my best weapon to use as her test dummy."

Agil nodded and continued to look out into the black cavern. "Yea, I can see why that was a dumb idea. But look on the bright side, didn't she give you your ALO hammer back for the time being?"

"Yea don't remind me…" Klein did in fact relinquish his katana over to Lisbeth, and after permanently gifting _Orcrist_ to Agil he was now in need of a weapon. As a result, Lisbeth decided to be a cheeky friend and loan Klein his old hammer, _Mjölnir_ from ALO to him for the time being. Lisbeth only had the hammer as part of her gift ring from Annatar, but like all the weapons she re-forged in Erebor it now stood as a loan entity in MEO.

Lisbeth even went a step further and let Klein borrow it because she knew he hated hammers, and remembered it was he who gave it to her in the first place.

"Try raising your hammer skill!" Klein said with an annoyed voice as he mimicked the exact words from Lisbeth prior to entering Moria. "Man…I only let her have the katana to make it more powerful. I probably coulda fixed the damned thing myself...She better not take it or make it worse on purpose."

* * *

A great time had passed since Lisbeth began her work. Klein was now starting to get both irritated and bored, which were not a good combination of emotions to have. As a result he lightly began tossing tiny pebbles and rubble pieces into the black hall of emptiness, which kept making Agil loose his calm.

Then Klein decided to throw a piece that was way too large to keep quiet, and after letting off some steam and anger in the throw he chucked it into the black void with a hard toss.

"Okay, time to go see if she's done!" Klein stood up from tossing rocks and dusted off his hads to check on Lisbeth, but as he did he and Agail were then greeted by an eerie sound from the far off distance.

 _*Boom*_

Agil's heart stopped, and Klein stopped breathing to gain a better listen in on the mysterious echoey sound.

 _*Doom* *Doom*_

The beating was getting louder, and as soon as the two realized what it was, Lisbeth stepped around the corner with Klein's finished sword.

"Okay, now this will work without your dwarf ring now, so you can thank…" Lisbeth paused for a moment to hear the sound as well, but since she now recognized it as the drum noise she heard with Asuna and Leafa, her response was left short and sweet.

"…What the hell did you do?"

The drum grew faint in the back ground of screeching and howling monsters lurking in the shadows, and now that the party of 23 knew there were in fact goblins surrounding he halls, Agil grabbed his torch and yelled out to the group. "OKAY TIME TO RUN! NOW!"

He, Lisbeth, Klein, and the other rangers all followed orders and high tailed it out of the smithy as fats as possible. Unlike Lisbeth's first time in Moria when she and her friends barricaded themselves inside the forge to defend their place, this plan had the group running aimlessly in the black to try and avoid a mysterious army of goblins.

However, as they made their turn into the eastern most door, the group stopped as they heard the scurrying footsteps of goblins grow quieter and quieter. This left the retreating Fellowship party lost and confused in the moment as they tried to collect their minds.

"Hold on did we just scare off all the goblins?" Klein said with his shiny new katana in hand and his head on a swivel. Lisbeth looked ready for battle too as she drew a mace and shield, and Agil held a torch and _Orcrist_ as he tried to find a reason for the fleeing enemy.

"This isn't good. If that Sauron guy has this set up like the movies, than that means…"

 _"_ _RRRHHHARRRRRR!"_

All the party members froze with fear and uncertainty as they had no idea how to describe the sound that took their ears. It was too loud to categorize as a simple roar, and calling it a war cry was almost too human. It was the sound of a beast alright, but no one knew what it was.

Except for Agil, whose eyes lit up like a frightened dog as he remembered the first film.

"RUN!"

No one gave him a second word as they followed in his frightened footsteps, and as they did a great glow of orange fire lit up behind them in a confusing but terrifying manor. This left the whole group of 3 players and 20 NPCs lost in horror as they raced through the large stone halls of Moria in a run for their life as they searched for the nearest way out.

Libeth pulled out her map which was already narrowed in on the mine, and as she looked her eyes found the closest exit to the east. "HERE! BRIDGE TO SAFETY IS THAT WAY!"

As they all ran down the halls, Klein held on to his bandanna and yelled ahead. "OKAY LIS! TIME TO GIVE US THE EXPLANATION!"

"ME!?" Lisbeth replied while looking away from her map. "HOW THE HELL SHOULD I KNOW WTHAT THAT THING IS! AGIL'S SEEN THE MOVIES!"

"STOP YELLING AND KEEP RUNNING!" Agil didn't feel the need to explain as his worried actions were enough to communicate the seriousness of the situation. As they passed through a large series of archways and long stair case bridges, a hefty amount of tattered goblin arrows flew a crossed the dark cavern and tried to kill the fleeing Fellowship in their escape put of the mountain.

"AH SCREW THIS!" Klein said as he turned on his NPC command menu. "BOYS GO TAKE THOSE GUYS OUT!"

"YES SIR!" The NPC army yelled without an argument as they turned the next corner and went to combat the goblin archers. Lisbeth let her eyes follow the heroic game characters untilt he chasing fire following them grew bigger, which prompted her to turn back forward in fear.

Finally the three retreating members from the Fellowship came a crossed a very narrow bridge that stretched a crossed a never ending black gorge to the other side. There they made a debate on whether or not the bridge was safe to cross.

"No time!" Agil said as they began to hesitate. "We gotta hurry! NOW!"

Agil and Lisbeth swallowed their fear and ran the length, but as they did Lisbeth turned to find Klein showing some of his minor fear for heights.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? KLEIN HURRY UP!"

"Me? Hehe…" Klein tried nervously concentrating on his tiptoe skills as he passed over the early part of the bridge. He then looked back forward to Lisbeth.

"Hey you might wanna move before I fall forward or jump or…Lis…?"

Lisbeth was looking in Klein's direction, but her eyes were no longer their usual bright shade of pink. Instead they were engulfed with illuminating shadow and flame as she gazed upon the most terrifying creature she had ever seen in a video game.

The beast was a demon of over 20 feet in height, and its entire body of darkened shadows was reethed in a cloaked mane of fire. It also had wings, albeit wings that were purely decorative as the demon clearly could not fly. Although the fire illuminated most of its surrounding body, this Devil of Might was indistinct in the black of the cave, a real blend of nothing but shadow and flame. Only its horned head, cloven feet, and clawed hands could clearly be seen, and as Lisbeth froze in pure fear, Klein slowly turned his head to see the monster in close range.

"Wha…what the hell is that thing?" He said with a quiet tone but alert eyes.

"IT'S A _BALROG_!" Agil yelled as he ran over to grab Lisbeth's arm and yank her closer to the safer side of the bridge. He then yelled more advice to Klein since he couldn't get around to grab him as well. "NOW HURRY UP AND GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!"

"No way…" Klein's fear suddenly went away as he now had a maddening look take his eye. The lone Ranger in the North followed by drawing his brand new katana and flipped it around in a combative stance to show off to the demon.

Lisbeth tried clawing herself out of Agil's arms. "KLEIN QUIT BEING AN ASS AND JUST COME ON!"

"Nah I think I'll take this little guy on…" He said with a clear sarcastic smile. The Balrog was not impressed and drew two weapons forged purely from air and fire. A long fiery sword from the left, and whip made of flames from the right.

It went to slam down its mighty sword onto Klein's head, and as it did Klein's first reaction was only to raise his katana in defense.

Lisbeth and Agil started running back over the bridge to rescue him, but then a flash of ruby red light came from the Balrog's strike, and forced it to back up in discomfort.

Klein was now briefly protected by a veil of magic, and a red orb flashed around his body like a shield defending him from the evil fires of the demon.

He then smiled and looked down to his new ring gifted from Lisbeth. "No way…she was right?"

He started hearing Lisbeth and Agil coming closer and closer, and then realized that although he was clearly protected from fire, they were not.

As a result, he turned around, drew a new weapon from his bag in mid air, and threw it over to the narrowest center of the bridge.

It was _Mjölnir_ the Golden Hammer of Thunder. Lisbeth was running in front of Agil along the single file bridge but forced herself to stop running as the hammer landed and nearly took out her feet.

As she stopped with a near heart attack, the bridge began to crack, and forced her to look back forward to see Klein with a grin on his face.

"Don't worry, I'll keep this ring of yours safe if you keep that hammer safe. Deal?"

Lisbeth was completely confused, until the Balrog returned from the shadows to deliver another attack to Klein. However, just as it went to attack, the bridge cracked from the the weight on the western edge, and the pieces under the Balrog's hooves started to give to the excess weight of the fell beast of fire and shadow.

Sadly however, Klein's support was also giving way.

Agil grabbed the hammer for his friend, and Lisbeth was now on the tips of her toes trying to reach out for the back of Klein's shirt. The flames were really starting to make her sweat, and at one moment or another she was almost crazy to realize tears were now forming under her eyes.

She spoke with a low voice to try and keep herself calmed down, but it really wasn't working as she started to choke up on her random new emotions. "Klein…please. Just come on."

The Ranger in the North with a shiny katana shrugged and tried to follow the orders as he now saw the Balrog falling into darkness, but just as he turned to accept her hand, the flaming whip from the beast below caught his ankle and tripped him up over the edge.

"Ah great…" He said as his feet slipped out from under him with one tied to the Balrog's whip. Even worse, Lisbeth was only an inch from grabbing his hand, which would have taken her in the plunge as well. As a result he performed the only possible outcome.

Klein heroically lunged forward, missed Lisbeth's hands and shoved her in the chest, pushing her back to have her land on the sturdy section of the bridge behind her.

Finally with the whip of flame pulling him down, Klein smiled, and remembered being saved by his friends in Dol Guldur as he had no choice but to fall backwards.

"Hehe…now we're even."

Lisbeth yelled out in confusion while it happened, and right when she landed, Klein fell off the bridge and into the blackness below, far away from his friends as he followed the Balrog into darkness.

"KLEIN!? _KLEIN!_ "

Lisbeth yelled out in fear and heartbreak as she ran forward to look down, but just before she got too close to the edge, Agil grabbed her by the waist and dragged her off the bridge and out of the cavern, making his retreat for the eastern exit and on to their next mission.

* * *

 **:(**

 **Another chapter I really enjoyed writing, but another one that made me feel uncomfortable because it was very close to the regular story. Either way I feel there was enough unique SAO emotion to make it stand alone(Actually I've noticed none of you seem bothered by this anyway so I'll take it as a good thing!)**

 **I really liked using the SAO soundtrack song "We have to defeat it" when imagining the Balrog and Klein (it's the song used in like episode 8 or 9 when Asuna and Kirito charge Gleam Eyes in the 74th floor boss of SAO).**

 **Also, here's a little element I realized after writing this chapter...I sort of made Klein and Lisbeth pretty close in this one...**

 **Do I ship Klein and Lisbeth? Meh...** **Will I expand more on this relationship later in the story? Meh...**

 **For now it looks like Agil will have to pick Lisbeth up and drag her to Erebor on his own. We'll track down Leafa, Silica, Sinon, and Recon for part 3 of the Fellowship tomorrow.**

 **Now I'm going to go to an expensive soccer (football?) game for the evening. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Comment and review!**


	20. 20: A Route through Dunland

**Author's Note: Okay this is our third group of the Fellowship! Let's see where their paths takes us!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the **_**Lord of the Rings.**_

* * *

Chapter Twenty

A Route through Dunland

 _"Short cuts make long delays."_

― Pippin Took, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

Just as the Erebor group consisting of Lisbeth, Agil, and Klein left for the east, the third and final group in the Fellowship also made their leave for the mission to take back their friend Kirito and defeat the server once and for all.

Heading down to the south below Rivendell were the four party members of Leafa, Silica, Sinon, and Recon. This was the only group out of the three that did not hold an open escort of troops or an army of rangers, and it was entirely made up of real players.

Right now, the four friends ride south of Imladris and even south beyond the Redhorn Pass, which holds Moria along with the path taken by their allies before them. Instead this small group of warriors makes way for the path even further south that bends around the lowest tip of the Misty Mountains and into the central world, The Gap of Rohan.

Not much is known to in-game players on this realm or the fields that lie beyond it. Out of the small groups of gamers who transferred from ALO, only one known person selected a faction that fit this region, and she played in the demo, which means she was never given the direct privilege to start out in her faction territory.

Now, Silica rides out on a pale blue colored stallion in front of her friends trying to blaze a new path for them to make the journey, but right now she seems to have trouble dictating their next move.

"I can't belive no other players have my faction. I don't even know if that's good or not!" Silica tried focusing on her map, but the thought of being the only one with a link to this region left her wildly uncomfortable.

Leafa shrugged and laughed as she road on a white horse behind her. "Hey I think it's kinda cool you're the only person in your faction! You getta be like the boss or something when more payers join."

Recon nodded in a greement from the top of his brown mare. "Yea, plus you'll be the only one leading an army. That'll be cool because you won't have to worry about other people trying to tell you what to do."

"WHAT!?" Silica slowly realized that would be the final result of her entrance into these lands. "Wait, so I actually have to command an army?! Who do they think I am, Asuna?!"

Sinon road in the very back of the path as she kept her eye out for any followers. "Yea I did here Asuna was a pretty good commander…b-but nah you'll just as good, Silica." She stopped herself before losing her mouth.

Silica sighed and held her head down in her hands. "I'm not sure I wanna be better than her…I'm not a commander, I'm sort of just a sneak type who trains animals."

"Right!" Leafa said as she began scratching her horse's head. "And that's how you got us these guys! Your troops will respect you for being so close to horses! And who knows, maybe if you tell them about taming a dragon they'll respect you even more!"

"Yea…I forgot it's been almost a month since I've seen Pina…" The little blonde horse lord held her head low as she looked at the grass below. She then shook her head a few times and re-adjusted her map. "Okay, enough of that! Where are we?"

Sinon pulled up a map of her own to help. "I dunno…it says here central Dunland."

Leafa picked a branch off a tree as they road under a low hanging grove of wild trees. "Dunland? I have no idea what that means. How far away are we from Rohan or wherever we're supposed to go?"

Sinon swiped through the map for a bit. "We should reach outer Rohan by the end of the night, but after that we'll have to make a lot of progress trying to find our individual armies."

Recon nodded but then scratched his ehad. "Y-yea that reminds me Sinon. You're supposed to get an army from Mirkwood…so why did you ride south with us?"

Sinon pulled out her bow to give it a little adjustment during her casual ride. "I dunno. Klein's rangers gave Lisbeth and Agil a big party, and Asuna went with all those knights in hers. I suppose this group needed an escort too."

Leafa started grinning. "Right…which is why you told them you'd have Mirkwood elves by now."

"Hey." Sinon shrugged. "I never said anything specific. Just told them I'd provide an escort. As far as I'm concerned you guys are all good players, we'll have no problems on our way into Rohan."

Silica sighed. "I guess…I mean Recon and I are good with melee, and with your bow and Leafa's magic I don't see why we won't be able to…"

"Stop."

Everyone halted and Silica covered her mouth as Sinon raised her bow to aim out front. As the group fell silent they heared loud and rough voices from over the grove to the front of their path. Sinon quietly stepped off her black horse and tip-toed past her friends to get a better view through the trees, which promted everyone else to dismount their own and follow her into the bushes.

There they came a crossed a tiny encampment of what looked like hill tribesmen. This goup of rugged warrior men didn't look completely disheveled, but they were far from a well organized military party. They all wore heavy fur skins and miss matched plates of armor, and all their weapons and tools looked hand made with poor craftsman skills.

However, one thing Sinon noticed before everyone else was a pile of discarded helmet near the outpost of their camp, and the mound of old armor appaeared to be significant in one way.

It was all armor of Rohan.

Silica covered her own gasp as she instantly recognized it too, and right then Leafa noticed it as well. "Crap! What are we gonna do? It's obvious these guys hate her type!"

"S-She's right!" Recon agreed and nervously clutched his twin daggers. "And what if that's not the only faction these guys hate!?"

"Man this stinks…" Sinon said as she eyed every individual tribesman with calculated measurement. "If there were like 2 more of us we could just kill them all here and now."

"Are you insane!?" Leafa said trying to keep her voice low. "There's like 30 of them!"

"Yea you're right…" Sinon then reached back into her quiver. "Well assuming I hit all my marks I can take about 25 of them. That should just leave the other 5 for…"

"WE'RE NOT FIGHTING THEM ALL!" Leafa insisted and held her head lower this time to not alert the camp.

Sinon then sighed. "Fine, but what are we just going to walk around them? This is a valley, and we can't exactly take the horses up the cliff sides."

"No…" Leafa thought for a moment before snapping her finger. "Wait, Silica do you have any other armor?"

"Well I mean I sold my first set from the demo, but I picked up a few extra pieces from that Lonely Mountain place while I had the chance…" She then started looking through her inventory. "A lot of it was really pretty, and I didn't just want to leave it…"

"Perfect!" Leafa said as she turned back to her horse. "Just change the armor and follow me!"

After taking time to make the change, Silica removed her maroon, bronze, and liver colored armor of Rohan to adorn a much more flamboyant style from the royal halls of Erebor. She now wore brightly colored gold with ruby red trim along most of her plates, while her chain and leather were all the color of crimson.

She felt very ridiculous, and now believed she didn't fit in with her friends. "Guys I look even more out of place…they're gonna call me out either way. I just know they will."

"I'll say!" Recon said with a worried face. "And like I said earlier what if they hate more groups!?"

Leafa sighed and took her horse right for the bushes. "Well, we're gonna find out one way or another…for now we have to keep moving."

And so her, Silica the Gold, Recon the Worried, and Sinon the Slayer all marched forward right for the edge of the camp of tribesmen. Of course as they made it into the clearing their first stradegy was to try and hug the outskirts to avoid confrontation all together. Sadly however Silica was right, and the tribesmen were very alerted by their presence.

"HALT!" Yelled a rough voiced man with broad shoulders and long, shaggy brown hair at the center of the fire. He signaled for men to surround the intruding horses and grabbed a hold of a very menacing club from the side of his stump. "What brings you lot through our territory?"

A second man with a black bun and shaggy beared took off a horned helmet and drew a sharp but scrappy sword of some kind. "They look like elves to me chief."

"Elves?" Cried the first man. "What in he hell are elves doing in my lands?!"

The four travelers looked worried, but none drew weapons. Finally Leafa spoke first. "Who's lands are we trespassing on, if you don't mind my asking?"

"AGH!" The chief spat at the ground and narrowed his vision. "Fancy speak for a fancy little elf. You're in the camp of our tribe, the Dunlendings."

"They have camps of their own?" Sinon raised an eyebrow as none of the NPCs apparently heard her speak. She then kept silent for Leafa to continue.

"R-Right, we'll you're right! We're just elven travelers. We're on our way around the Gap to the Gold Forest."

The Chief stepped forward. "And why would you be so bold to take the route through my land, instead of the road to the west?"

Leafa sighed to calm her self down. "We marched out of Rivendell in the north?" She ended it like a question in the thought they wouldn't know where that was. She then tried fixing herself. "I-I mean we are simply trying to reach our friends on the other side of the mountain, without going through Moria."

The Chief looked lost in an angry thought until she ended with that. He then let out a laugh. "HA! Well…I can't be blamin' ya on wanting to avoid that place. We hear it's haunted by the ghost of dwarves."

Leafa tried laughing too. "Hehe…well I'm glad you understand. If you don't mind, would it be alright if we took a small short cut through your lands to reach the road. Then we'll be out of your hair and onto…"

" 'Old on a minute Chief. I don't like it." A guard from the camp fire made an advancement as he started looking up and down the 4 intruders. He noticed a few similarities with 3 of them, but not the foruth. "These three got the elf ears, but this one's wearing gold dwarf armor."

Recon, who was not an elf but did sport ponty Halfling ears, tried to comment back. "Wha-? No she bought that from merchants in the north!"

The guards suddenly narrowed their eyes and started getting more comfortable with ther weapons. Silica tensed up on her horse, and Sinon kept calm while she tried locating the closests arrow in her quiver from memory.

Then, the Chief stepped up and placed a hand on Silica's horse. "Quite the ride you got here…it wouldn't happen to be from _the Mark_ would it?"

Silica had no idea what any of that meant, but she assumed it meant Rohan. As a result she found a tiny bit of courage from under her gilded helmet and let out a tiny squeak.

"Well no I mean…we are coming from the north…so wouldn't that make it elvish?"

Silence took the situation, and right then Leafa and Sinon tensed up to prep for self defence.

Then the Chief started grinning. "Hehe…hehehehehehe." His laughter grew louder and more obnoxious as he and the guards joined in a round. The 3 girls and hobbit from Rivendell tried smiling too, except Sinon who kept her eyes ready.

Finally the Chief backed up. "Right. Men, round up the rest of the camp!" He pointed at the suspicious Dunlending from the guard and walked back to the fire. "Well give these elves a nice escort to the Fords of Isen, but we'll let them talk with the boss first before letting them go any further."

* * *

After their awkward experience in the Dunlending camp, the 4 Fellowship members road an even worse voyage than before as they were now surrounded by 30 or 40 ugly and menacing tribesmen who acted as an escort to the outh. They were taking the riders to the River of Isen in order to cross into the new land, but before they did that the chief whished to stop off at their "boss" for a better evaluation.

During the ride, the friends kept their dialect low and quick, and as they did Silica road next to Leafa. "Hey…are we sure any of this was a good idea?"

Leafa didn't nod or shake her head. "I don't know…but we really didn't have another choice."

"It can't be that bad." Sinon tried poining out. "They let us keep our weapons and horses."

Recon liked the sound of that. "Yea, so maybe we'll just be taken right on to the next region!"

Leafa finally shook her head to a response. "No, they already want us to stop somewhere…the question is _where?_ "

During the bulk of the ride the hillsmen refrained from talking to any of their guests, and likewise the riders failed to communicate with the Dunlendings in return. This left everything even worse than before as they were now coming up and new ground.

"Right." Said the Chief in his slow but powerful walk in front of the horses. "We'll stop off at the lord's place first and see what your deal is. If he likes you we'll let you cross our lands."

Leafa didn't want to swallow her words, so she stuck it out. "A-and what if he doesn't?"

The Chief cracked an ugly grin. "Well I wouldn't expect to look past Dunland if I were you."

As they came through a thick valley of trees and rock, Sinon started getting more and more worried. She noticed the other three were nervous too, but none of them seemed to be too concerned with the land scape around them.

Yes, it was true that the walk in to the valley looked some what lush with trees and plants, but Sinon used her archer's eye earlier to spot several large stacks of smoke and ash rising from the north, and now that just so happened to be the direction they were heading.

As a result Sinon road ahead a tiny bit to meet up with Silica. "Listen, I don't like any of this one bit, so if we get up here and something looks bad, I'll need you to follow my lead."

Silica held her voice and nodded before talking. "O-Okay but what exactly does that mean?"

Sinon tried looking through the trees to get an updated view, but nothing was working. "If this place is bad news, we shoot for the east. The river they're taking us to is the border between here and Rohan. I'd say once we cross it we'll be in safe territory. Then we can find some of your new friends and get on with the quest, but it only happens if you start the sprint out of here."

Silica remembered she had the group's fastest horse and best riding skill. As a result she swallowed her fear and nodded. "Right. We'll get up here and see if…"

Silica's words froze as they came out from the grove to take in their next view. It was a rocky valley at the tail end of the Misty Mountains, but within the valley laid only a few views, burning forests, and despair.

At the center of it all sat a large circular fortress at the foot of the tallest mountain in the region. Simply calling it circular was actually a miscalculation. This structure looked to be a great ringed wall of black stone that surrounded a wide, flatted valley at the foot of the mountain. At the very center of the wall was an enormous tower that stood as a ridiculous shape and size. It was black polished stone as well with four large edges that made its base the shape of a small cross from the far view. It also had a crown of 4 black prongs that looked like knives or swords sticking out of the top, the maximum height of which seemed to even break a plain of 500 feet, if not higher.

The travelling friends were left in awe and fear as smoke rose from the valley, and with the sight of trees and green quickly leaving view, only black ash and torch fire covered their vision of the fortified valley.

However, before the escort party ventured any closer inward, Sinon drew an arrow and shot a tribesman in front of her. "NOW!"

Leafa and Recon panicked for a moment in sheer confusion of the matter as they turned right to find Silica darting off into the last remaining forest in the east. They then noticed Sinon charge forward with a group of Dunlendings following her, and before the remaining tribesmen caught them, Leafa chose east.

"COME ON! IT'S OBVIOUSLY A PLAN!" Leafa had no time to reason with Recon, and simply ordered him to follow as they chased after Silica into the tree grove in the distance.

She turned to find the fast but alone Sinon riding out of view, and as her and the pursuing Dunlendings road over a far hill, Leafa and Recon were only left with looking forward to follow their other friend.

It was easier said than done. Silica was flying through the trees like a boat on water, or a bird through air. Her horse seemed to know the land perfectly, or Silica was simply out-classing any rider in the game. The two followers tried their best to keep up with her, but were now starting to worry as the little blonde's ride was almost running too fast for its own good.

"SILICA SLOW DOWN!" Leafa tried yelling out to reach her friend, but was quickly distracted as a black arrow came flying in to nearly miss her head.

"KEEP RUNNING!" Recon yelled as he slapped down on his horse's reins to advance their run, because as he did a new legion of Orcs on Warg mounts were quickly approaching them from the north.

Leafa and Recon were now worried for their own lives more than Silica's, because she was so far forward it was almost as if she was about to lose them. Then, things changed.

"He's right! Keep going!" Silica said as she swiftly turned around and threw a dagger at an approaching orc's eyes, killing it instantly.

Leafa slowed her horse and yelled with fear. "WHAT!?"

Silica had no time to argue as she kicked up her horse and turned for the south. "I'm faster, I'll take them out of here!"

Leafa wanted to talk some sense into Silica, but Recon reached over and grabbed the reins of her horse, and took her into the forest towards the further east.

Meanwhile Silica could turn now to see a small clearing with a perfect view of the South Road running into the easetern country. She then nodded, dodged several arrows, and sped up in pursuit of her new destination.

The orcs were fast, and Silica was faster, but just fast enough. She weaved though trees and jumped through creeks and piles of rocks, while also being sure to avoid any incoming arrows that fancied trying to land in her head.

In fact she was riding so fast and so very well that the entire race almost made her lose energy, and in the increase of speed her breath started to die out.

"No…" She let out a cough in determination. "I'm not going down just yet!"

Then, her ruby red eyes lit up like fireworks as the River of Isen came in to view. There appeared to be no great bridge or crossing, but the meandering Fords of Isen looked just shallow enough to take her horse a crossed.

Sadly, as she passed through the shallow wake of pebbles and gravel, the warg riders followed her in pursuit. Silica was beginning to lose patience, and if they continued to follow her any more into the hilly lands ahead, she would also lose hope.

Then, as she turned at the worst possible time, an orc with a lightning fast warg had ridden up to her back, and right as the wolf creature started snapping at her horse's leg's the rider's creepy black hands shot out to grab her by he shoulder.

"NO RUNNING AWAY NOW GIRLIE! WE GOT YOU!"

Silica shrieked for a brief moment before she closed her eyes and prayed for the best possible out come, and just like that it came.

Silica opened her eyes to find a sharp throwing axe dart past her head and land into the scalp of the now dead orc chasing her. She then turned and slowed her horse with her mouth gaped open to find a large assault force of armored men riding beautiful horses charge into the lower fords and slay every orc rider dead.

Finally, before Silica made another move, the leader of the assault force road up and smiled as he removed his helm, revealing a handsome face under a head of long blonde hair.

"Well milady, I must say it is a bizarre sight to see a woman of your stature riding in alone…but it is even worse to see you being chased by those mindless creatures from Isegard." The tall horseman laughed as he scanned the tiny rider before his view. "Tell me what brings you to the Riddermark?"

Silica froze with embarrassment and nerves as she stopped before saying a word. "O-Oh thank you. Um well I'm actually here because…"

The tiny blonde girl couldn't continue her thought before letting out a sigh and opening her inventory. Then, after a quick change of her cloths, she began talking to the NPC once again, only now she was dressed just like her new friend.

"Actually my name is Silica…and I need to speak with your leaders."

The horse knight was frozen with confusion for a moment before he put everything together. The rather smart NPC held an above average AI and smiled as he scanned Silica's armor and name tag floating above her head, quickly denoting it as fellow armor of the Rohirrim.

Finally he smiled and gave her a nod. "My apologies, Lady Silica was it? I will not be so bold to judge you next time. Welcome to Rohan."

* * *

 **Okay, So that's the openers for all 3 route...one group has a fatal injury, one has a fatal death (lol), and one has them all split up. Great! Now we'll find out where to go from here!**

 **Comment and Review!**


	21. 21: The Riddermark

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter might be later than usual, I was out of my house all yesterday, last night, and this morning never went ahead prepared the new chapter. But here it is! (Also I might have mentioned this before but I'm also a _Fairy Tail_ fan, and I was doing corrections for this chapter and noticed one of my spellings of "Edoras" was accidentally spelled "Edolas" lol...just ignore it if I forgot any others.)**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Twenty One

The Riddermark

 _"My company are those loyal to Rohan, and for that we are banished. The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there they say, as an old man hooded and cloaked. And everywhere his spies slip past our nets."_

― Eomer, _The Two Towers_

* * *

They had been riding for a day or two now. Silica had lost full count of the hours ever since she made it into the fields of golden green that lay below the southern peaks of the Misty Mountains.

Rohan, or the _Riddermark_ as some call it existed as a vast field of grasslands and stone boulders in central Middle-Earth. It stretched all the way from the Fords of Isen clear down to the northern Realm of Gondor. It was full of a great population of skilled craftsman and warriors, but their real trade of fame was the taming and riding of horses.

Now, Silica rides through the western section of lower Rohan as she and her small but valiant company makes for the country's capital. Their camp is stopped along the Westfolds and the southern road, and as they ready themselves for a night of rest, Silica sits with her new companions around a healthy camp fire.

"So…" She paused to collect the scene around her. "Am I the first player you guys have seen or what?"

"HA!" The NPC leader and marshal of the group laughed as he enjoyed a small meal of stew and ale. "No not at all, though it is impressive to see you know our land is very sparsely populated with players. Not many find themselves traveling through the Mark now a days."

Another spoke up from the other side of the fire ring. "Aye! But damn if we try to welcome all with hospitality…well those who see themselves as our ally that it."

Silica pondered for a moment. "Well what about elves? Are they your friends?"

The marshal gave her a partial nod. "We'd like to think so. No one will admit our communication with elves in the north is perfect, but they do come to our aid from time to time."

"That's a relief…" Silica smiled and lowered her shoulders now that she knew her friends would be accepted in Rohan.

She then remembered not knowing where her friends were at all. A few days ago the third group of the Fellowship were on their way down from Rivendell to make way for their new journey. The next thing they knew a group of Dunlendings surrounded them and tried escorting them into an eerie looking tower to the very south of the Mountains. Silica managed to escape with Leafa and Recon, but Sinon was lost as she valiantly ran forward into the belly of the mysterious beast that was the black fortress to the north.

Now, Silica didn't even know where her other two friends were. They were both set to turn for the north to find the forests of Lothlórien and Fanghorn, but now she had no idea whether they made it there or not.

Regardless Silica now found herself in the company of fellow blonde haired, horseback riding knights of the Riddermark, and even if she had no personal connection with these soldiers yet, deep down she knew it would emerge eventually.

"So you said there have been players in Rohan other then me? Are they from the same faction as us, or are they different?"

"Hmm…" The lead man around the fire stopped and scratched his chin for a moment as he looked to his fellow riders. "Well unless you count stray travelers passing through the road, than no we really haven't seen other Rohirrics."

"Or if you count the Head Marshal in Edoras." Said another man with a big gulp of ale. "We're actually headed there to introduce you!"

"Wait there _is_ another player as a Rohan warrior?!" Silica sounded very confused from the entire conversation, but now she felt like all her thoughts were about to explode.

The first rider laughed. "Well of course! We can't say the head Marshal is much of a military mind though. Those fowl creatures from the east in Isengard still plague our lands with pillages and plunderings along the far river border."

Silica didn't like the sound of her new friends sounding so weak. "Well how bad of a leader is this guy? He's not a new player or anything is he?"

" _He?_ " several men said at once, with the lead ranger starting a chorus of laughter. He then explained. "No, this one's a girl, same as you! She's said she has a lot of experience with worlds like this before, and we assumed she'd be the only player to pick Rohan."

Silica started to sound rather jealous from this so-called "female ranger." Now she wanted to get there as soon as possible. "Well…in that case when will we make it to the capital?"

The head marshal in the group finished his drink and smiled as he stood from his boulder chair. "Good question. We'll get there about mid-day tomorrow, assuming the company moves quick enough, and we make it there all in one piece!"

After a long night of rough frontier style sleep, Silica and the encampment of Rohirric knights mounted their horses and road for the far east, where they would eventually come a crossed the valley of Harrowdale in the northern ridges of the White Mountains. These picturesque mountain peaks separated Rohan from the rest of Gondor, and provided the realm with a beautiful background scenery in the distant view.

Then as Silica was starting to grow tired, she and the riders came a crossed the sacred hill alone in the middle of a wide-open plain of rolling grass dunes. It looked like an old barbaric village, with nothing more impressive than a few regal buildings at its height, and a surrounding wooden log wall that awkwardly guarded the perimeter at the foot of the hill.

In fact the only part of the town that even gave Silica the tiniest bit of wonder was the large yet modest building sitting at the very top of the hill. The Riders of Rohan called it the Golden Hall of _Meduseld_ , and it was said that the Kings of Rohan ruled from there as the seat of all power in the Riddermark.

However, in this game there were no kings of Rohan, only an army of neutral NPCs, and apparently _two_ female players from ALO.

"Is it a city or another camp?" Silica said with a depressed look on her face. The army was still quite a ways out, but even at this distance she could see the flags and banners were tattered, and the wood in the walls was old.

The chief marshal let out a grin of slight pride. "That's Edoras, the golden city of Rohan."

"I don't see a lot of gold…" Silica said with bitter sarcasm as she implied the city looked very broke.

The leader sighed as he also road out front. "Aye, these lands are not like they used to be…we have the wizard to thank for that."

"W-Wizard?" Silica suddenly remembered they were in the middle of a war, so this wizard had to be an enemy of sorts.

A secondary rider came up to their side. "Sir, the bulk of our force is going to wait outside. Seems the company has grown too big to fit into the city."

"Hold on." Silica said with confusion. "There's not even that many buildings. Why can't you just bring everyone inside?"

Silence took the small group for a moment as they slowly continued to head towards Edoras. Finally the marshal spoke up once again.

"Come, the captain will want to see you."

And so the company marshal continued to march his group down through the low plains of the valley and into the great but tattered wooden walls of Edoras. Some of the higher guards road in two by two, while the bulk of the forces stayed outside the walls. Silica was still uncomfortable with that premise, but chose to remain silent as they made their way up the windy dirt path and near the top to the golden hall.

Then Silica realized the building was far more beautiful than she previously thought. It was topped with a simple straw roof, but one that made it appear as if it was forged from gold when seen from far off. Its walls were richly decorated with modest tapestries depicting the history and legends of the Rohirrim, and great pillars lifted its high baring roof over the broad walls of the main hall, each topped off with ornate crosses of sorts. Finally, the point atop the gable roof was crossed with two carved horse heads that formed a heart shape, and this was designed in a very elegant manor.

Silica smiled with joy as she dismounted her horse and made the long but somewhat enjoyable trek up the long hill and into the mead hall. Now she and the leading riders from her company had made it to the look out in front of the hall made of solid carved stone and brick.

"Welcome back." One guard said with a stern voice, and virtually no emotion.

The leader with Silica rolled his eyes. "Come now, we need to gain entry."

The guard never moved. "Only without arms. That's the law of this house."

The leader shook his head and sighed as he drew his sword and firmly placed it into a guard's hand. Silica then watched with half-horror as the rest of her crew did the same.

Finally she too made the effort to relinquish control of her weapons, including her very prized and shiny elven dagger, _Sting._ It took a bit for the guard to pry it from her hands, but Silica wasn't too happy to depart with it so soon.

Or in reality, she was simply doing it as a façade.

Silica stood in the back of the company and mischievously pulled out her quickly forgotten ring from the beginning of the game. Unlike Asuna, Leafa, and Lisbeth who regularly wore their rings, Silica and her company never got into the habit. However they did know what powers and trophies came with wearing them, and Silica firmly knew that once her ring was placed around her finger, her long lost _Ebon Dagger_ from SAO would find itself back on her belt and safely into her arms.

However, her new friends didn't need to know about that.

As they walked inside the hall Silica was blown away by the beautifully painted columns and walls inside the hall. Everything appeared in gold, burgundy, and a forest shade of green as it did on the Rohan banner. Silica also liked the regal armor worn by all the guards and officers inside the hall, but didn't appreciate the fact that they got to keep armor.

Silica started to look grumpy until one of the second in commands from her original party nudged her on the arm. "Ya know, they woulda taken your helmet too if you ever wore it…"

Silica had to laugh at the older man's joke, because in reality she never wore her helmet very often. She never liked pulling her hair out of its pigtails, and fitting them inside the Rohirric helmet was simply not going to happen.

In fact the little joke almost distracted her long enough to forget where she was, until she heard a snarky yet seductive voice giving out a command to the new guests.

"Well I ordered your company to patrol the west, captain. "She said with a firm voice directed at the leader of the group. "I'm sorry was that not enough?"

"We're sorry ma'am, but urgent business brought us to Edoras. We managed to find another Rohan player to help us in the war to come…" He turned to gesture to Silica in the back of the group, but as the men parted to reveal the little girl all's they saw was Silica with a face of shock and awe.

The Head Marshall of Edoras saw this and gave the timid girl a sly yet familiar grin. "Oh my god…is that little Silica I see? Wow, it really is a small world."

The tiny blonde girl shook with fear and confusion, and nearly dropped the ring from her hand as she stood in the lofty hall, and looking her way was a very familiar comrade from her days in SAO, a girl with a mature face, voluptuous red hair and two seductive yet mischievous eyes, one of which was covered by long bangs.

Silica had no idea what to do, so she let her mouth fall open. "No way… _Rosalia_?"

* * *

As Silica reunites with "an old friend", we now come a crossed a fallen ally from before. Sinon sits inside a dimly lit room without a clue of her location. Once she made for the north to give her friends a chance to escape, Sinon quickly out ran the slow Dunlendings on foot with the help of a horse. Sadly however her ride came to a quick end when her trail stopped right in front of others who were coming out from the north, one of which supplied her with a nice arrow to her horse's body, and a swift bash in her head with a soft club.

And so here she sits inside a black room all alone, with a table in front of her, a small candle, and extra empty chair, and alocked door. Her hands were not bound, her weapons were not confiscated, but she still had the feeling "captive" was probably the appropriate term for her situation.

"I should have just back tracked…" She said while leaning on a fist. "The tower just looked really important…I wanted a better look."

Yes, the tower. The black tower with shiny shone and spikes all around. The tower with a large ringed wall and mysterious foreground surrounding its base. _That_ tower.

Although it was still an unknown, Sinon had a bad feeling that something dark was keeping this place a mystery. It was very odd, to find a place so dark and confusing just sitting in a peaceful mountain valet like that, especially when what she had see all game long, was everything dark chose to stick to the shadows, not broad day light at the foot of white snowy mountains.

Either way, her curiosity is what got her captured in the first place, but the real question is…why was she still alive, or for that matter armed?"

Then the door creaked, and as the lock tumbled open Sinon drew an arrow and held it by the bottom of the tip to look like a dagger, and as she stood a dim light of green emerged from the opening door.

It was Sigurd, the former lord of Mirkwood, and former commander of Sylvain of ALfhelim.

"What are you doing here?" Sinon asked with bitter sarcasm. She now felt so annoyed she actually dropped her arrow.

Sigurd rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him. "Relax, I came to explain that very purpose, Miss Archer."

The sly elven archer took her seat once again. "It's Sinon, and don't act like we're acquaintances."

"Did I imply we were?" Sigurd said with a solid expression. "Very well, Sinon is it? I just wanted to congratulate you on defeating the demo. I never got the chance to truly give you credit, but I believe now I may finish that fulfillment."

"…" Sinon never gave him a reply.

Sigurd raised both eyebrows and lowered them quickly "Right, well go ahead and remain silent, it makes my job easier." He then took his seat and began to tap his finger against the dark, purple stone table.

"Well, I see you're still dressed in rags from Mirkwood. I suppose you mean to use them in the war to come."

Sinon never answered again. That nod he made to her outfit left her in deep thought. When Sigurd first walked in the room she didn't happen to notice, but now he appeared to be dressed very differently from his original Woodland Realm armor back in Lake-town.

Here, Sigurd dressed in a soft green robe of modest make. He also had a short shroud like cape draped over his shoulders that was colored a bit dark green, and his long forest green hair was parted down the center with a thin golden crown encircled over his head. He also had a black staff, and the tip was designed much like the top of the black tower Sinon could see before her capture, which now left her to assume she was trapped inside that very tower.

Then, she decided to find out for herself. "Where am I?"

Sigurd shrugged. "You're in the Tower of Orthanc…I still assume you know nothing of that name so I'll go ahead and say you're just west of Rohan, in a small fortress called Isengard."

Sinon knew that name, but let him finish.

"This valley below the mountains is also given a second name… _Nan Curunír_. In your elvish tongue it roughly translates to 'The Valley of the Wizard.'"

Sinon rolled her eyes when he referred to the langues as her own. She then spoke up. "Why am I here?"

"Tsk…" Sigurd sounded annoyed that she didn't ask about his new outfit or presumed title as wizard of the valley. So he continued. "You're here because you were trying to pass through my new lands unannounced. This Gap of Rohan is put under my watch, and I have it under strict authority from my employer to keep an eye on it."

"Oh?" Sinon said with narrowed eyes. "Does _Sauron_ have you too? Figures…"

"Grr…" Sigurd balled his fist at the annoying little teen. "Not in the slightest…and I will not have my respect questioned by a player who doesn't even know where she is. If you're so much better than I am why did you go and get yourself 'captured'?"

"…" It took a lot of strength for Sinon to keep her mouth shut and the virtual sweat from dripping off her nervous forehead. She now knew something was up with Sigurd, and if he knew Silica and the others had slipped by his sight, he would have sent for them.

So she just assumed he had no idea where they were. "I was doing some scouting for my party. I went a lone because of my sneak skill, and my archery skill makes it easy to collect food."

Sigurd didn't like her answer. "Hmm…well now you're probably wondering why I decided to let you keep your items." He then stood up. "I have a proposition, if you don't mind. I assume you'll try to rally the elf troops from Mirkwood eventually…"

"The elves I stole from you in Lake-town?" Sinon replied sheepishly.

"Agh…mgh…" Sigurd tried to ignore the exact details. "Yes...I need you gather them for a friend. Come." He then turned and opened the door as he clutched a hold of his staff and walked slowly out of the room.

Sinon was totally removed from the scene and darted after him in confusion. Sigurd then continued to explain. "I need you to make your way to Mirkwood."

* * *

 **AGH! Rosalia from SAO is in the story now, and Sigurd has been moved from Mirkwood to Isengard...I wonder what he wants with Sinon.**

 **I had a hard time with this and the last chapter because in the original draft I provided names for all the NPC characters, but I knew I was making a lot of them and was worried there would be too many people to keep track of. Also while it's true some of them are supposed to be important, none of the NPCs are supposed to be memorable enough to receive a name, so I didn't want to give all these NPCs names and reveal they're really not that important. In the end I settled with no names. Tell me what you think about it! (or tell me if any of that even made sense haha...)**

 **New chapter Monday! I have another one of those placement exams for my program that day. Wish me luck!**


	22. 22: A Blade to be Re-forged

**Author's Note: Well I lied, I moved my exam thing to tomorrow, so now I have an extra day to study today (which is why this chapter came out later than usual, hehe...)**

 **We're gonna find out what Sigurd wanted with Sinon, and maybe find some other characters again? Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Two

A Blade to be Re-forged

" _Very bright was that sword when it was made whole again; the light of the sun shone redly in it, and the light of the moon shone cold, and its edge was hard and keen. And Aragorn gave it a new name and called it Andúril, Flame of the West._ "

― J.R.R. Tolkien, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

 _*CLINK!*_

Lisbeth struck the glowing blade of soft steel with all her might. Hit after hit her powerful Blacksmith's Hammer shaped the weak sword below her waist into a newly sharpened piece of battle equipment.

She was in Erebor, the hall of the Dwarves. In this Kingdom they were named Durin's Folk, and they hailed from the oldest and most ancient line of dwarvish nobility. Most of Durin's Folk resided in the Iron Hills to the far east while Smaug took up his residence inside th Lonely Mountain, but now that the dragon had been slain, these mighty craftsman and wariors of the old days were once again able to take back their enormous keep beneath the sky.

 _*CLINK!*_

And because Lisbeth was registered as a new Dwarf of Durin's Folk she was happily welcomed as a new member. Even Agil received kind words at the door for bearing the sigil of the Dwarves from the Blue Mountains. Agil kept in touch with his recrutted NPCs that he met way back in his first days of playing, but because they were located so far west compared to the rest of the game he felt like he should only call on them when he truly needed to.

In any case the situation was rather tense. Lisbeth had been working on this sword for the entire short week, the time it's been since she and Agil arrived to Erebor after their long and grueling trek from Rivendell. Though it does not need to be reminded, things did not go so well along that journeyed path.

 _*CLINK!*_

Lisbeth smashed her hammer constantly into the hardest craft she had ever dealt with in her life. Blow after blow the precious metal would not bend to any command she gave it through her hammer, at least not as easily as she would have hoped. It fought constantly to stay solid, and took a long period of time to soften up for its current state of molding. It was also a very rigorous task to keep all the pieces lined up for the reconstruction, and there just so happened to be 6 pieces in total, including the handle.

 _Narsil_ , the broken blade of old. Its shards were ornamented back in Rivendell as a sacred object of complete mystery inside this game. In regular lore from Middle-Earth this blade was once wielded by Elendil, the High King of Gondor and Arnor. During a historic battle with the forces of evil, _Narsil_ led the fight in the hands of Elendil on the slopes of Mount Doom, where it was there destoyed by the might of the Dark Lord himself, Sauron.

After quickly killing Elendil, Sauron was greeted by the fallen but not defeated son of the King, Isildur, who valiantly took up his father's broken sword and cut the most powerful weapon at the Dark Lord's disposal from its owner's hand— _The One Ring_.

From there the _Shards of Narsil_ faded as mere heirlooms of an old and fallen house. Several heirs used the main handle as a weapon of sorts, but few ever kept it as a true partner. In this game however none of these characters exist (with the recent exception of the Dark Lord that is), and it is here that the sword finds itself in a very odd predicament, for now it has no owner, and it is here that it will finally become one whole object once again.

 _*CLINK!*_ Lisbeth continued to hammer over and over tring to unleash all her emotion and anger into the steel sword, but still she remained silent. She wanted to use this as her great masterpiece within the game, but now the moment felt far too bitter sweet for her to enjoy.

Agil knew that, and as a result watched her every hour as she tried making the sword. Several NPC dwarves caught onto this as well and joined him in his observations.

"Whew! I gotta tell ya laddy that there Missy sure can put the hammer down on an anvil!" One of the lively smithing dwarves laughed with his friends as they stood with Agil at the entrance of the smithy.

Lisbeth had her back turned to all of them while she worked, and made no effort to acknowledge their presence. This left Agil rather unhappy.

A second dwarve tried to lighten the mood. "Yep! She does have Durin's blood in her, that's for sure! Master Agil, you wouldn't mind telling me where she learned her craft, would ya?"

Agil took a deep breath but quickly remembered he wasn't alone. "W-What? Oh right. She learned it in…uh, a castle called Aincrad."

" _Aincrad?_ Never heard of it! Eh it must be in that fancy world you all came from a crossed the sea. I tell ya what these new players have started making me go insane! There's too many to keep track of, and they all want to do diferent things!"

Agil cracked a smile, but knew it didn't really mean anything. Ever since they left Moria it was just like this. Lisbeth was isolating herself from him and the others in Erebor, and he had to keep an eye on her. Their mission was coming up soon. She and Agil had secured the word of Durin's Folk and were now awaiting orders from Kayaba to make their first move. However Agil knew none of that would matter if their Durin's Folk commander, Lisbeth, was totally incapable of fighting when the time eventually came.

At that note, Agil sighed and went to step forward, however as he did a troupe of dwarves came tumbling down the main staircase in the great hall.

"Master Agil! You and Miss Lisbeth have a visiter at the front gates!"

"Huh?" Agil looked curious, and as he noticed Lisbeth chosing to ignore the situation he left the smithy and went to address the issue. "Who is it?"

The main dwarve shrugged. "Not sure necessarily. They come from Lake-town I guess, but their armor…it appears to be Wood-Elf."

 _"_ _Sinon?"_ Agil thought, and quickly tore through the dwarven host to run up the steps and see what it was.

As he made it to the large rampart above the great gate outside Erebor, Agil looked out and over the railing, and down below he sure enough found Sinon the Elven archer standing in wait.

"Hurry up! It was a long walk from Rohan!" She yelled with a bit of impatience in her voice.

Agil laughed. "There ain't no way in hell you walked all the way from there!"

Sinon shrugged from down below. "Alright fine I had a trick…just let me in!"

* * *

After quickly giving the guards consent to letting an _elf_ in their _dwarven_ halls, Agil ran down to meet with Sinon, who had a rather interesting experience on her way to the north.

"Man, you look like you had a rough day." Agil said has he sat down in the great hall of gold with Sinon.

The Wood-elf sighed and shook her head. "You have no idea…our trip to Rohan didn't go as planned."

"Yea…" Agil admitted. "Ours ended pretty rough too…"

They both sat in silence until Agil continued. "So what about the others? Why did you come here alone?"

Sinon looked uncomfortable with explaining the truth, but she tried suffering through it anyway. "We were ambushed by mountain tribes. Or well…we actually crossed into their territory without knowing it. They took us to this huge black tower right outside of Rohan and…"

"Oh no…" Agil sounded like he understood where she came from. "Don't tell me you were in Isengard?"

"…" Sinon looked frustrated with the way her day went as she tried to continue. "I ran right into the fort to keep the tribes occupied, and that let the others escape. Only problem was I was knocked out pretty quickly, and now I have no idea where the others are."

She then reached into her inventory and pulled out a random item. It appeared to be a black key of sorts, but it looked very old and almost made out of stone.

"I swiped this after the lord interrogated me. It was actually that creep Sigurd we were mentioning earlier. He's the one who hates Leafa and Recon. I guess he's the wizard in the tower now? Anyway he tried making a deal with me, and wanted me to bring the Ring through his lands so he could provide a 'proper' escort. I knew that wasn't about to happen, so I played along and tried finding a way out. He caught on and showed me to some of the soldiers he planned on adding to our escort…"

"Orcs." Agil said with a low voice. "But they weren't just regular ones were they?" He almost sounded like he knew the answer.

Sinon shivered slightly in her thought. "No, they weren't…" She was the taken back to the treacherous moment within the halls of Isengard.

 _~Flashback to Isengard_

 _Sigurd was leaving the room with two chairs and a lone table and expected his guest to follow. Sinon was totlally removed from the scene and darted after him in confusion._

 _Sigurd then continued to explain. "I need you to make your way to Mirkwood."_

 _Sinon paused for a moment, remembering that he was originally placed as Mirkwood's Lord. "Why, so you can have your army back?"_

 _"_ _Tsk." Sigurd tried to hold in a laugh. "That's almost too funny. I have no intention to take back that motley crew of recluse elves. No, I have quite a better, more subservient army at my disposal now…but I must admit the Woodelves are very prominent warriors. We will need them in our host if we want to defeat Sauron."_

 _"_ _So you want to beat him too?" Sinon asked with a curious tone in her voice._

 _"_ _Why would I want to side with him? After all he placed me in a ridiculous position for the game, and then moved me to Isengard...and that will become the biggest mistake he's ever made."_

 _Sigurd brushed the obsidian colored wall with a gentile stoke of his hand. "This faux-Sauron does not understand the power of Isengard, and he will surely regret placing me of all people here once we use my forces to escort the One Ring into Mordor."_

 _"_ _Your forces?" Sinon questioned. "You weren't even at the council for the Ring? Why would we ever trust bringing it to you?"_

 _Sigurd raised an eyebrow. "Because I know the enemy better than any of you will. I have the best inside knowledge from the company outside of Mordor, and I know what kind of power the Ring possesses."_

 _Sinon sighed. "Well sorry to burst your bubble but you're not the only one who can help us. Asu…the Ring is being taken to Gondor. That Klint kid is incharge, and he'll have the best plan with what to do."_

 _"_ _Klint?" Sigurd turned with the sound of that name, and then let out a chortled laugh. "HA! AHAHA! Oh wow you honestly trust that coward over me?"_

 _Sinon stopped walking. "At least Gondor players came to the meeting." She then turned her head to take a better glance at the creepy hall they had been walking down this entire time. "So what about this 'master army' of yours? Let me see it."_

 _"_ _AGH!" Sigurd was taken off guard. "Why would I do that if you refuse to take my side?"_

 _Sinon shrugged. "You're the one trying to sell me a proposition. If you want the Fellowship to use your army, one of its members needs to see it first."_

 _Sigurd was turned away from her face and scowled as his eye began to twitch. He then took a deep breath and tapped the ground with his staff. "Very well. Follow me if you wish to see…my army."_

 _Sinon obeyed, and together they made a turn through the main hall and into a bizarre room with shiny floors and a single pedistle. The top was covered in a cloak and a spherical object looked to be sitting underneath it._

 _This left Sinon intrigued, but not enough to remain focused as she followed Sigurd over to a new hall with a balcony at the end. Before they passed through the threshold a strong odor of fire, ash, and rotting flesh took the air, followed by a view of clouds of ash and shadow._

 _Sinon covered her mouth as her eyes began to water from the wretched stench. Sigurd never acknowledged this gesture and paused right before showing her what laid beyond their view. "I must warn you, because of your impatient insisting, this might be a difficult sight to understand."_

 _Sinon didn't like the sound of that and kept her hands ready with her bow exposed on her back. She slowly followed Sigurd onto the balcony, and there she saw a sight unlike anything she had witnessed in the game before._

 _It looked like a warzone, or like a bomb dropped right on the ground and unleashed the realms of hell unto the earth. No vegetation covered the grounds inside the circular fortress, only dirt and barren rock. It was also filled with cavernous ravines and holes all over that made it look even worse with views of glowing fire underneath the crust. War machines and industrial technologies dotted the landscape to organize the idea that this was in fact a military operation._

 _Finally the grounds were being run by soldiers alright, but not humans, or elves, or dwarves. They were orcs. Black, grey, green, ugly creatures from darkness and shadow. They crawled all about the grounds prepping for war and arming themselves with malicious technologies, and it appeared that beneath the surface of the fortress ground, more and more hid in the darkness._

 _Sinon was horrified, and right then she backed into the doorway and drew her bow, pointing it directly at Sigurd's back. "What kind of insane plan are you trying to add me to?" She demanded._

 _Sigurd rolled his eyes and tapped his staff on the ground once more, only this time the orb in the top lit up with a green glow, and then faded like nothing happened._

 _He then turned to face his aggressor. "You are so naïve, archer. You come into this game without trying to understand its mechanics, and here you judge me for utilizing the strongest race in the game to my advantage. Don't get me wrong, we both wish to see Sauron defeated, but I actually want results…you know they do say he is a true Necromancer. He's been told to bring one's absolute worst nightmares to life in direct combat, which doesn't sound like a villain I want to play with."_

 _He looked back out to the sea of black. "Either way with this army of Isengard at my disposal I will get what I want."_

 _Sinon bit her teeth together and pulled back even further on her drawstring. She then heard footsteps coming from inside the tower, and tried to think up a plan._

 _Meanwhile Sigurd started walking forward to her. "I will not let your foolish Fellowship stop me either. So tell me where the Ring is, and I'll take command of the assault on Mordor from here, maybe I'll even let some of you in my ranks."_

 _Sinon wasn't about to agree to any of these terms, but she knew she wouldn't have to either just as the footsteps started growing loud enough to be heard right behind her._

 _Finally, she shut one eye and looked right at Sigurd. "Find it yourself."_

 _She shot the arrow right for his head, but knew he'd use magic to block Sigurd wasn't ready for was Sinon sliding into the hallway, stabbing one of the approaching orc guards, and taking his sword to shut the door and jam the handles together._

 _Although she had just gotten rid of Sigurd, these left over orcs were proving to be worse than any other enemy she had fought already. They were feet taller than she was, and all of them wore heavy armor and wielded large steel scimitars with angular points on the end._

 _Sinon had to act fast, and used her small size and stealth to slide under a few of their legs, slicing up their ankles in the process. She then flipped up and ran back into the main octagonal room where she passed back through an unknown hall._

 _There Sinon passed by many different rooms, but one that took her eye was an office of sorts. Sinon ducted inside for a moment and used it to get away from her pursuers, but as she did she also looked around for anything she could find._

 _Here is where Sinon located her new black key, but just beside it was another item that had a note with her name on it. The note didn't have any extra message, but the item was rather peculiar in its own right. It was a pure white feather. A very long feather that looked bigger than most birds she was used to seeing. She would have spent more time thinking about it, but had to shoot an arrow at an entering orc who found her hiding spot._

 _Sinon then shoved him out of the way and sprinted back to the main room to double back, and this time found a new path leading to a different balcony._

 _She wanted to collect a better view of the ground, but as she did the archer noticed there was no way she could get out of the fortress of Isengard easily. This left her with a quick moment to read that new item._

 _"_ _Feather of Gwaihir: Use to fast travel to known locations. May only be used once, and must be summoned outdoors."_

 _Sinon's eyes widened with relief but uncertainty as she had no idea where to go. She had a chance to escape, but what about Silica? Or Leafa? Or Recon? Where were they, and how could she teleport to them?_

 _Easy answer: she couldn't. Sinon could only teleport to a known location to her character, and for that reason she had no idea where any of those friends were._

 _Then as she heard Sigurd finally bashing open his sealed door, Sinon pulled up her map and weighed her options. Her eyes darted around the list faster than ever before as she tried to comprehend all the information at once._

 _Then she saw a faint green glow coming from the door, and drew a dagger to see an angry but satisfied Sigurd standing there armed and primed for attack._

 _"_ _Well I'm glad I discovered your indifference this early on. Bringing you into my plan only to find you're against it would have been dreadfully annoying."_

 _Sinon acknoledged his presence, but ignored his words as she still tried to pick a teleport location._

 _Sigurd stepped forward with his staff lighting up even brighter than before, and then held out a hand. "Now I know you took the key from my desk, and while I was originally intending to give it to you, I'll be taking it back now."_

 _Sinon's eyes had just found a new idea for an escape, and right then she sheathed her dagger and switched the feather to her open hand._

 _Sigurd's eyes widened with fear as he realized what was about to happen. "No you will NOT get away from me that easily!"_

 _Sinon refused to accept that and held the feather up in the air for it to be collected by the wind. From there a flash of white light surrounded her body and blinded Sigurd in his tracks, leaving him to stand in bewilderment and Sinon to vanish into thin air._

 _~Back in Erebor_

"They weren't regular orcs, they were called _Uruk-hai_." Sinon said with discomfort as she concluded her tale from inside Isengard. "They were huge."

Agil nodded. "Yea I remember those things. Freaky strong orcs with powerful armor. Anyway what is Sigurd's deal? He sounds all over the place. First he's loyal to the game, now he wants to destroy it."

Sinon shifted in her seat. "I'm not sure…anyway his original proposition also had me taking Wood-elves to Gondor. He says we'll need everyone we can get down there."

"B-But…" Agil said as he sat up from the bench. "But that was our plan already! How did he know?"

"That's what's bugging me, but we know he wants the Ring too…" Sinon admitted before taking a deep breath and standing up. "Anyway I could have fast traveled straight to the Woodland Realm, but I knew you guys were coming to Erebor, so I landed in Lake-town to check up on you and…" She then paused for a moment. "Wait, where are Lisbeth and Klein?"

Agil was waiting for her to ask that. "Eh, Lis is in the smithy fixing some sword for Kayaba. Klein is…well he didn't make it out of the mountains."

Sinon's eyes widened and both of them sat in a long silence. The sounds of clinking gold, and the feint smashing of Lisbeth's hammer along with other working dwarves could be heard as well, but nothing really broke the pause.

Finally Sinon collected herself. "Where's Lis?"

* * *

Agil took Sinon to the large forge room to find their lone friend working on her project. Sinon opened the door with Agil behid her, and as they passed into the room they both noticed Lisbeth was still hard at work.

Sinon had no idea how to approach the situation, so she decided to remain delicate. "H-Hey Lis…you doing alright?"

Lisbeth continued her labor in silence. She almost continued to act like she was alone, but she had also been sharing a room with other crafting dwarves.

Sinon slowly approached the blacksmith from behind. "Listen…Agil told me about your trip, and about Klein. I took it kind of hard too, but we'll have to keep at the mission if we…"

"I know." Lisbeth finally spoke, alerting both Sinon and Agil with the sound of her long-forgotten voice. She then elaborated.

"Klein didn't go down in vein…" She said without turning around. "But that's the point, he went down fighting for a cause. We're here fighting for the same cause—save Kirito and get him out, right?"

Agil and Sinon didn't even bother answering as Lisbeth continued. "I saw what took Klein, it was ridiculously OP…what if we all go in and the challenges we face are just like that? You guys _do_ remember what happens when our players die, right?"

They remembered, clear as crystal. When a player dies, their character is removed from the game and banned from ever entering back in. Which would mean if all the players trying to save Kirito ended up dying in battle, they would lose their chance to save him from inside the game. Forever.

Sinon collected that, but continued walking forward by placing a hand of Lisbeth's shoulder. "I know that, and so does Agil. Klein knew it too…that's why he saved you two. He knew we'd need as many people as we could get, so he risked his life to make sure you two would carry on."

Lisbeth paused for a moment before letting out a feint laugh, followed by wiping what appeared to be a tear from her eye.

"I know…it was pretty stupid, right?" She said with her usual cheer. Lisbeth then set her hammer down and turned to reveal her new surprise.

"Well here it is! What do ya think?"

It was gorgeous. Agil and Sinon's mouths both nearly hit the floor as they looked down to the newly hardened blade of steel, and it appeared as one of the most beautiful looking swords either of them had ever seen.

Its blade alone was over 4 feet long, and the handle looked sturdy. The silver steel shined brightly in the light of the torches, and the edges were sharper than broken glass. Finally, the scabbard was pitch-black and completed the perfectly crafted sword into a legendary item fit for the perfect leader.

Lisbeth giggled and swiped to reveal the name tag. "It's called _Andúril—Flame of the West_. Pretty cool, huh?" She tried bragging about its beauty and prestige.

Agil smiled at the gesture and nodded. "Damn! I could sell that thing for the price of an entire house back in ALfheim! No wonder it took you so long."

Sinon nodded. "So this was the project you had to complete? Is it supposed to go to Asuna now?"

Lisbeth scratched her head. "Well technically. Kayaba wanted Asuna to have it because it's _actually_ supposed to go to that Klint kid. He's in-charge at Gondor, so I guess he gets it? I dunno I'm just the smith."

Agil nodded and pounded his fists together. "Right! Now we can get along with our assault plan in the north."

Sinon agreed. "Yea, I'm supposed to gather my army too, and since I'm this far north I might as well get to it."

"You're right on that! Here catch!" Lisbeth laughed and threw the large longsword into the hands of Sinon, who nearly dropped it due to its weight and the surprise.

"Wha-!?" She cried out. "Why do I get this?"

Lisbeth put a finger to her cranium. "Duh? You're taking an army south, and Asuna needs this sword when she reaches Gondor. You can take it to her!"

Agil shrugged. "Yea, she has a point. We're both staying in the north to attack Mount Gundabad. Not to mention fast travel and item transfers were taken away, unless you have another cheat item like that feather you told me about?"

Sinon rolled her eyes and laughed, putting the sword away in her inventory. "Alright fine, but if this thing slows down my draw speed you can forget me getting it there on time."

Agil smiled and Lisbeth let out a giggle. "Eh why do I care? That'll be Ausna's problem!"

* * *

 **Well that was lovely, and now everyone is slowly on the move! We'll find some more characters tomorrow, but they'll be from the faction of men (Silica and Asuna?)**

 **TOMORROW will be the day I have that exam, so yay! I guess...comment and review!**


	23. 23: The Realms of Men

**Author's Note: Okay here's number 23! It's a good one I'll go a head and tell ya that, so please enjoy!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Three

The Realms of Men

 _"A man of Rohan. What is the house of Rohan but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek and rats roll on the floor with the dogs?"_

― Saruman, _The Return of the King_

* * *

Silica waited in silence along with her fellow country Rohirrim as the nobles from Edoras discussed the new developments throughout the Kingdom of Rohan.

Most notably the Chief Marshal and current figure head of the Rohan Army was also a former colleague and rival of Silica's, and her name was Rosalia.

Rosalia was one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in _Sword Art Online_ as well as the leader of the orange guild: _Titan's Hand._ Rosalia was a sly woman who used her beauty and charms to attract potential victims for her guild to ambush, and was also known for sweet-talking things out when she was in trouble. After luring many sorry player to their deaths just to pick up some extra loot, Rosalia was caught by Kirito (who was currently escorting Silica on a private mission) and sent to the prison managed by The Army in Aincrad.

However, it appears that she made it out of the game alive and somewhat well. Even her new MEO avatar generated an image just like the one she held from SAO.

And here inside the fabled Hall of Meduseld, she stood just as proud as ever as she kept an open eye alert and fixated on Silica.

Silica stood angry with her new peers as the others talked over on the other side of the room, but she also felt very anxious as Rosalia never turned her gaze. She had no idea how to act in the new hall, and now she was quite frankly regretting ever choosing this faction to begin with.

That is until one of her friends from the country side patrol spoke his mind. "This sickens me…why should I sit by with idol hands as some foreign broad takes my kingdom out from under the feet of me and my brothers?"

Silica tensed up even more from that remark, until another one tapped her on the shoulder with his elbow. "He means no offense…he's just fed up with this woman who's taken charge here in Edoras. She's got quite the plan about her."

Silica raised an eyebrow. "Plan? What do you mean?"

The second Rohirrim spoke again, only this time softer. "She's only come to Rohan as of late. This woman said she would take us under her wing and lead us down to defeat Mordor. Then we all hear news of this _One Ring_ in Rivendell, but she never sent anyone there as a liaison from Rohan, hell you ALfheim folk say you've never even heard she was in here! No, she only lowered our defenses in the west, and let unknown passengers cross our lands with some stupid intent to "focus on Mordor" in the future. Quite a joke really, after all we haven't even made an army to fight Mordor, and here we are trying to buy an alliance with the _real_ enemy."

"Enemy?" Silica was confused yet again, and her quick mouthed friend was not helping. "Who's your enemy?"

"Well Mordor obviously!" Said the marshal. "But they're way down south. Our local neighbors in Isengard seem to be the real target, but now with Miss Rosalia here we can't seem to find a difference between friend and foe."

Silica nodded her head. "Yea that sounds like Rosalia…ugh she's so ridiculous. Has anyone tried standing up to her?"

"We can't." Said the original Rohan warrior. "Our laws won't let us go out of our bounds to harm one of our own, even if she means no good."

"You coulda just said friendly fire is turned off…" Silica almost laughed from the AI's articulate choice of words. "Anyway why is she so picky with her soldiers? I mean you guys don't look any different from those ones, and she's actually talking to them."

"That's because we tried standing up to her." On soldier explained. "Sure we couldn't attack her, but we did try denying her entry into Edoras. She came with that ridiculous plan and suckered some of our best leaders into submission. Now we've lost our own word in the army meetings."

Silica was starting to get mad just by this conversation. She had come here to raise an army to help save Kirito, and now she had to deal with this? Picking Rohan was starting to sound worse and worse by the word until…

"Little _Silica_? We need you over here."

The young Rohirric warrior looked up to find Rosalia patronizing her with a wave of her hand. Silica's cheeks were growing red with anger, until she composed herself and passed through her group to walk towards the back of the room.

And so Silica marched over to join the discussion, and as she did Rosalia flipped the back of her hair and grinned. "Sorry to keep you waiting, but I am a busy woman. It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you!"

Silica tensed up a fist knowing it was all sarcasm. She then spoke up. "What are you doing here?"

Rosalia tried to hold in a laugh. "What I can't take tribute money from _Mystic Gaming_ or something? They're offering a nice amount of cash to all the beta testers, and I wasn't about to pass up an offer like that. Besides, this game is just so inviting, I mean…it's a lot better when there's no fear of dying IRL."

Silica didn't like that. Just like Lisbeth, Silica knew what happened when your avatar died in MEO, and she wasn't about to leave the Fellowship with one less person to make the push to save Kirito.

She stepped forward. "I mean what are you doing here in Rohan? I was told no one else claimed this faction."

"HA!" Rosalia laughed and waved the other Rohan officials away from her table. She then sighed. "Oh you really haven't changed, Silica. You're mad I'm here to steal your thunder, aren't you?"

"WHA-!?" Silica was offended. "No I am not! I was just…!"

"Oh save it." Rosalia quelled her mood. "Why else would I bother you? I can't hurt your real body, and we have the same goal. We both want this creepy Sauron guy to go down, so just chill out."

"Mhmm…" Silica didn't like any of this, and now she was tossed in the middle of an uncomfortable situation she had no business being in. "What's your plan?"

Rosalia raised an eyebrow. "Hmph. Well I'm not sure I can tell you that information. Those riders you road in with were sent away from Edoras, and now they seem to have fallen under your little spell. I can't go spreading my ideas around with you all here. It wouldn't be right for a woman in my position."

"Agh you're so stubborn!" Silica was getting angrier by the second. In fact she was starting to get so mad that she actually reached for a Rohirric sword to deliver a hack at Rosalia's head.

And the weird thing was, no one tried stopping her. Rosalia raised the sword from her belt up to block, but other than that no guard or other marshal tried to intervene.

Silica looked confused for a moment until Rosalia started smiling. "What? Didn't your little friend tell you friendly fire was turned off? You're such a noob sometimes, Silica."

The little blond girl took slight offense but raised her sword again. "Well if that's the case why did you still have to block me?"

A pause took the conversation until Rosalia finally looked up. "Very clever. You actually figured something out on your own without that black swordsman here to help you along the way. You and I are players, we don't follow the same commands regular NPCs do. We're allowed to have player skirmishes."

She then waved her hand and turned away. "Besides, my guards have no beef with you. They're just mad at your friends."

"Mhmm…" Silica mulled things over for a moment as she looked around the clearly tense mead hall. She then lowered her weapon, but didn't remove it from the conversation.

"They're all confused because they have two leaders now. That's it isn't it?"

Rosalia laughed and raised a mug full of ale. "Maybe you are fit to rule, but not with that little avatar of yours. I'm surprised you can fit on one of their horses."

Rosalia then stood up and greeted Silica on her feet. "The Rohirrim are at a stalemate. They know you need them for your grand army, but I had plans with that far before your arrival yesterday. Now they don't know who to trust or follow."

Silica had no idea why trust would be an issue, but she supposed loyalty would be an issue. She was really starting to wonder how they all knew about her purpose, but she just imagined news was transferred easily in this game.

Either way she nodded. "Right. So we gotta do something about…this."

Rosalia shifted her weight from one curvaceous hip to the other. "Okay, and what do you suppose we do about it?"

Silica swallowed a lump in her throat and paused before tightening the grip on her sword. "I think you answered that when I went to attack you…we need to have a dual."

"HA!" Rosalia didn't even bother to keep her voice down. "YOU want to fight ME?! Oh wow…you're not as smart as I made you out to be. You do remember I was a higher level than you in SAO, right?"

"Yea…" Silica admitted. "But that was stolen experience. You had your guild to help you."

Rosalia almost took offense from that comment. She raised an eyebrow. "You're not joking are you? Wow…this is really interesting."

She and Silica stood in silence while the other Rohirrim all waited around talking with one another, except as each second passed one of them would stop what they were doing and looked to the center of the room.

Finally Rosalia and Silica's matching red eyes locked, and the former spoke up. "Okay fine. We'll have a dual right here. Winner gets the highest command."

Silica didn't like how easy it was to convince Rosalia to fight, but she now had to go forward either way.

"M'ladies? What on earth is going on!?" Yelled one marshal who walked over to break up the tension.

Rosalia snapped her finger. "Sir move these tables and clear the floor. Silica and I are going to give you boys a fair bit of entertainment."

Most of the guards nodded with approval and jumped right in to follow the beauty's order, which left the first guard to roll his eyes and step back.

Now all the soldiers in the room were surrounding the center of the hall, and in the middle stood Silica and Rosalia, each with a single Rohirric sword and several pieces of matching plate armor, and also a round wooden shield with green and maroon trim.

Rosalia spun her sword around and grinned. "We'll started out with the same sword. If you lose your weapon, you're responsible with finding a new one. Three rounds, best of two."

"Yellow health means you lose a round." Silica confirmed. She then remained silent and held her sword in hand. In a regular soldier's hand the standard short Rohan sword was smaller and meant for easy handling on horse back. However in the hands of the tiny dragon charmer it looked slightly bigger than usual.

Rosalia on the other hand looked right at home, and all her equipment looked like it was built to fit her slim body, even the sword and shield were the right size and weight. Then as the crowd stood back and both girls nodded, the skirmish began.

Rosalia started walking the perimeter of the ring as Silica followed, and just as things settled down she stepped out and jabbed towards Silica's chest. The tiny warrior blocked the attack with her shield, but almost lost her footing, which caused her to quickly block a second attack from the other side.

Silica tried tiptoeing to keep her feet light. Sneak and quick reflexes were her specialty in battle, but now all this armor and heavy weaponry was weighing her down. She was also used to having friends or a tiny blue dragon on her shoulder to help watch her back, but not this time. It was one-on-one, and she was losing.

In fact, things were so out of touch for her style of fighting that Rosalia faked one way, and then knocked the shield right out of Silica's hand, knocking her to the ground and earning her a stab in the chest.

Rosalia chuckled as Silica's life meter went into yellow. She then turned and walked back to the started spot. "One for me."

Silica stood back up and drank and item from a guard to get her health back into green. She also ignored her useless shield and tried to fight with her small sword one-handed. This was slightly better than her original stance, but even so she had only ever fought with orcs using a Rohan sword.

The battle was a little more fast-paced now, and hit after hit the steel from both swords clinked together to ring about he room. Silica was a lot quicker than before, but Rosalia was still crafty.

So crafty, she even put her shield to work by butting Silica in the chest, and then tried swiping her sword onto her head.

Silica held her breath from fear and leaned back, and then finished by rolling away, but as Rosalia's sword came down it missed Silica and hit the sword out her hand instead.

Silica rolled to the other side of the room and rose to her feet. She then turned to find herself with no sword and Rosalia with everything.

However, one of the Rohan warriors she came in with had made sure to gather her original weaponry, and in a quick act threw out _Sting_ for her next fight.

Silica smiled and gave it a few swipes, and now she had more confidence in her skills. She then looked to Rosalia and waited for her to move.

Rosalia was not impressed yet and charged forward, which let Silica roll to the side of the arena and strike her enemy's shield. She then waited for a reaction and knocked the sword from Rosalia's hand, and followed up by jabbing her in the chest.

Rosalia was at a loss as the crowd grew louder and louder, and just then Silica flipped her elvish dagger upside down and held the blade parallel with her arm.

"Now we're even." The little blonde said with sarcasm in her voice as the crowd started shifting in her favor. Rosala' skin was starting to turn the same color as her hair, and as a result she threw her shield down and snapped at one of the Rohirrim.

The man obliged her with a long spear tipped with a beautiful design of a green & gold horse and steel spear head. Silica knew this kind of weapon was Rosalia's specialty, and as a result she kept herself alert.

Rosalia jabbed at her from a crossed the arena and caused Silica to roll away in defense. She then flipped up and tried slicing at Rosalia, but the red headed woman butted her with the shaft of her spear and knocked her back to the ground, nearly stabbing Silica with the end of her spear, but barely missing as she rolled away.

Silica rolled to her feet, and then went back down to try and strike low once again, however Rosalia was ready for this and smacked her in the face with the end of her spear. She then pinned Silica's wrist to the floor with the end of her spear and let the little blond scream out in pain.

"Ha! Is this how you attracted all those boys in SAO? Tried acting like a helpless little damsel and waited for them to step in." She then looked around the now confused crowd. "Well I don't think any of these men can help you out of this one." She then looked right at the one who handed her the sword. "Even the one who fell for your trick."

"Agh…n-no they probably can't…" Silica cried out trying to free her sword hand. She then looked up to Rosalia. "But…I don't need them to beat you!"

Silica spun around and kicked Rosalia in the side and as she did she let go of _Sting_ and pulled out her tiny lesser Ring of Power. Finally as the ring equipped itself to her hand, her old _Ebon Dagger_ from SAO came out of nowhere and caught Rosalia completely off guard.

Silica used the split second to swipe Rosalia's legs out from under her and then sent the dagger right in her side as the tall woman fell to the ground. She then watched as her health turned to yellow, and all the audience yelled with a roar of praise.

Rosalia's lip started to quiver with confusion and rage as she stood to her feet and pointed at Silica. "You…you cheated!"

Silica held her breath with all the Rohirrim behind her and let the loser finish. "You have one of those evil rings. You're here with the enemy!"

"What?" Silica said as she popped off her ring and showed it to everyone. "This thing? It's just an item I found from a quest during the demo."

"Ghrr…" Rosalia was starting to get fed up with the little blonde's presence, but as she did one of the main Rohirrim stepped forward.

"Very well, Lady Silica? What shall we do with her…?"

Silica sighed and then looked right at the angry Rosalia. "If it was just because I hate her, I wouldn't send her away…but she's not a good person. Let her leave."

"What!?" Rosalia stood. "YOU'RE tying to kick ME out?! This is ridiculous!"

Silica sheathed her dagger and took _Sting_ from a friend who handed it to her. "I'm not fighting you again, but you aren't welcome here Rosalia. Just go roam around…just like you made my friends do."

All the Rohirrim were taken back by Silica's choice of words, and Rosalia was tensing up with every passing second. Finally she stood up and grabbed her spear from before, and just as she did a wall of Rohirric Marshals lined up in front of her.

Rosalia looked them all in the face until Silica turned around. The red headed woman then lowered her pike, snapped the long spear blade off the top, and tossed the rod aside. She then used the remaining blade as a knife to cut the straps off her plate armor, and took off her breastplate. Afterwords she only kept her cloth tunic and leather riding pants with boots on as a uniform and tossed the blade away as she turned for the door.

However, before she made her leave, Rosalia stopped before passing through a few guards and turned back with two narrowed red eyes.

"I hope your plan works, Silica." Then, Rosalia exited the Hall of Meduseld and left the Rohirric war council alone for new leadership.

* * *

As Silica was left with her new, unusual situation in Rohan we now come to a small sailing barge off the coast of southwestern Middle-Earth.

Out in the middle of the Great Sea Belegaer, we come to find a white sailing barge with black sails and banners wrecked along the southern shores of Gondor. Here one lone warrior fights to remain strong.

"AGH!"

Asuna slashed at several approaching Orcs who were boarding the barge from the land onto the wreckage. She kept her weapon high and her energy even higher as she slashed through their front lines and turned their numbers into almost nothing.

However she was also running out of energy, and all her allies were fallen. Mortimer was still unconscious from his injury at the port, and Chrysheight was nowhere to be seen. It was quickly turning from bad to worse for Asuna, and then…

Another black figure emerged from the back of the orc crowd and parted his soldiers to gain admittance aboard the derelict barge. The cowering grunt men of Mordor stepped back and let their fearful commander take his place, which also left Asuna in an uncomfortable position to fight.

She kept her _Lambent Light_ high, but her hand was starring to shake as she once again felt a cold chill of air that came the last time she saw him. Even when she tried convincing herself it was a lie, Kirito kept re-emerging as the same black beast from before.

He wanted her dead, but he especially wanted her Ring, the _One Ring_. He lowered his heavy broad sword down on the planks to try and slice her in two, but she rolled away in a quick escape. Then she raised her rapier up once again to block another hack from his sowrd, but her tiny arms could barely keep up with his brute strength.

"AGh…! When did he get so strong!?" She argued with herself, but knew the answer was useless. Then as he feet began to slip out form under her due to the tide, her sword hand fell from its mark to try and hold her self up.

Then, Kirito the Ringwraith followed through with his blow and sliced Asuna's arm right off from the shoulder, causing her to scream out in intense pain, and drop to the floor of the broken ship, shutting her eyes to return to blackness.

Then, once again she woke up in the nurse's room back in Toyko.

"Ahahh…Ahahhh…ugh!" She grabbed her pillow and stuffed it over her teary but angry face. Then, Asuna sighed and flipped the controls to her AmuSphere from on to off, and then on again.

"Link Start!" She yelled, and once again she as transported back into MEO.

* * *

 _~Back on the barge_

Asuna woke up and was in fact still on the ship, but now it was still sailing perfectly well, and making its way into the eastern shores of Gondor.

However, as Asuna woke up from her quick nightmare, she was quickly greeted by a familiar voice. "MOMMY! MOMMY WAKE UP!"

"Yui?" Asuna said with a worried expression. "W-what's going on?"

"Oh mommy!" Yui the tiny sprite flew up and hugged Asuna on the cheek. She then spoke up. "I was worried you were…oh mommy something bad is happening outside!"

"Outside?" Asuna realized they were in the back cabins of the barge, and then looked to the door to find Chrysheight the Blue Wizard standing in the hall.

"She's right, you need to come and see this."

They were right. Outside on the main deck the remaining 20 or so soldiers were all either keeping the ship floating, or surrounding one heavily wounded sailor in the center of the deck.

It was Mortimer, and he didn't look well at all.

Asuna tried remembered what had happened during that battle on land until she didn't have to. Mortimer's skin was starting to turn black and the wound on his side looked like it was decayed. She knew it was a Morgul Blade wound, and she realized that would have also been her fate if Leafa and Chrysheight had not helped her.

Sadly for this scenario Leafa supplied the only bit of medicine last time, which means no one on board had an immediate cure for Mortimer's condition.

Asuna had no idea what to make of this. She wanted to focus on raising that army, but the trip was already too much on her mind. Mortimer telling her to remain passive bothered her to no end in the beginning, and now he was lying nearly dead or worse. To add to that her nightmares with Kirito kept continuing, and she had a funny feeling it was the Ring that was causing them.

Either way the Gondor men parted as Mortimer raised a hand and pointed right at the emerging Asuna. Her eyes widened as she slowly walked through the parted group and stood next to the lying commander.

Mortimer coughed up some blood before making his point. "I told you to leave me…"

Asuna tried to remain strong. "I wasn't the one who saved you."

"HA!" He got a lot on his chest plate from that laugh. "Well at least you're honest…"

He then patted his wounded side. "Looks like we've got the same battle scar now…only mine looks worse."

Asuna tried her hardest not to roll her eyes, and the Mortimer grabbed her by the boot.

"Listen up…*cough*…these cowards don't know what this wound is capable of…*cough* you and I both no it ain't gonna kill me, and I don't want to turn into one of those monsters…"

Asuna lowered herself to her knees and looked confused until Mortimer shoved his Gondor dagger in her hands.

"They also don't have the stomach to end it for me." He gave her a grin. "You've been having a hard time trying to deal with my shit, so I figured it wouldn't take long to ask you to do it."

Asuna remained calm. "Why not do it yourself?"

"HA!" Mortimer howled once again with a choppy breath. "Not in this game Missy! It's gotta be someone else."

Asuna stopped for a moment and looked own at her dagger, she then looked at his growing wound, which sort of made her own scar hurt. Yui sat on her shoulder with tears in her eyes as her mother tried to make a decision, but as she did Mortimer's eye caught something around her neck.

"Wait a minute…now that I got ya here…let's give me a little peek at that ol' Ring of yours…"

Asuna's skin was starting to chill as she looked nervous from that request. She then held the dagger tighter, but used her other hand to pull on the chain around her neck, reveling the tiny but mysterious One Ring.

Mortimer's eyes grew a little larger than normal as he started to smile. "Well I'll be, just like it was back in Rivendell…stupid little thing." He then started holding his hand out to touch it.

"Why do you suppose this thing it so valuable to him? I mean it's just a little _AGH!"_

The crowd of soldiers gasped, and Yui nearly fell off her mother's shoulders as Asuna thrusted the dagger _unwillingly_ through the heart of Mortimer.

Mortimer's mouth was full of blood as he smiled like a mad man. "Just as I thought…"

Then he fell off the dagger and down onto the hard wooden deck in his sorry death, exiting the game and returning his avatar to ALO.

* * *

 **Good Silica! Bad Asuna? Eh it was pretty tough for her to make that decision...new chapter tomorrow!**


	24. 24: The Forest of Gold

**Author's Note: Hello! Here's number 24. We're gonna go find a character I've been ignoring for a few chapters, but now she's back! Enjoy! (Also if anyone's wondering I passed that exam! I can now become certified to teach Middle-Childhood education!)**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Four

The Forest of Gold

 _"They say that a great sorceress lives in these woods. An Elf witch of terrible power. All who look upon her fall under her spell... and are never seen again."_

― Gimli, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

Leafa was tired. She had been on the back of her white mare for quite some time now, completely alone in the wilderness of central Middle-Earth.

After the escape from Isengard and the Dunlendings, Sinon played hero and tried to lead the enemies away, which allowed Silica, Recon, and herself to flee into the east and over the River of Isen.

As they continued to be chased Silica decided to be the second savior and run to get the trail off her friends, which left Recon and Leafa alone.

Finally, as the two last members of the group road north to their forest destinations, Recon realized his was closer, and a lot more dangerously close to the black tower.

"Leafa keep going!" He yelled awkwardly as he darted his horse through the trees that night. She had no idea how to respond until she realized there were still arrows shooting at them from behind, which forced Recon to turn up a green shield around his body.

"Recon you're an idiot!" She remembered yelling, and quickly tried to help him, but then she remembered what he said in return.

"No, this is my stop! We've made it to Fanghorn, but you still need to go north!"

And so she did. Leafa was still mad at herself for leaving him alone, but with his insisting personality she had no choice but to go on and ride for the north. Now it felt like she had been riding for days, which she clearly had been, but she was quickly running out of food, water, and energy.

"I can't go on much further…" Leafa complained as she continued to trot through the field of Celebrant. She had passed the Limlight River earlier that day, and now only saw fields of grass hills as far as the eye could take her ever since.

In the far west she could see the towering foothills of the Misty Mountains, but they too looked too far away, and to the east was nothing but the low river valley of the Anduin.

Leafa was nearly about to fall off her horse is she didn't get more water in her system. "Maybe I can just…I dunno…log out…just for a little bit…" She was considering trying to long out of her very lengthy run inside MEO, until she finally ran out of energy.

Leafa hit the ground hard just as her horse made it to the edge of a sweet smelling forest. The smells and cool warm winds were just enough to nearly knock Leafa out then and there. A tiny smile graced her face and she curled up on the ground, and then her eyes shut, followed by…

"Oh my, we have an intruder on our borders…" Said a very pious and noble voice from above Leafa's head.

The blonde elf lifted her head off the ground and looked up to find an escort of glowing figures looking down at her with passive smiles. Some of them were armed, but it was hard for her to collect the view entirely. She took a little breath and lowered her head again, only to find a few of the elf males lift her up by the arms and began carrying her into the mysterious forest to their backs.

Now entering further and further into the woodland, Leafa's eyes were slowly getting comfortable with the view. As the party entered into the deeper reaches of the forest Leafa's mind quickly woke up. The trees looked very peaceful and majestic in this quiet forest, and all the nature on the woodland floor looked healthy and vibrant. There were beautiful thick colored green trees all about, and as they moved further north, a few golden trees began coming into view.

Then after a quick march over a white bridge a crossed a rolling river, they quickly came upon the first great settlement Leafa had seen in a long time. This area in the central forest was unlike anything she had ever scene. This biome features gorgeous trees with silver bark and falling golden leaves that scattered all throughout the region, and the plants and insects below lit up like balls of blue and white, and all the water shined like the sky as it rippled into the larger river below.

Leafa was blown away, so much so she quickly regained her own strength and removed her arms from the shoulders of her carriers. Right away they realized she was fully awake, and the first elf smiled and nodded.

"Well my dear, you are fully awake. That's splendid news."

Leafa brushed off her shoulder and gave him an uncomfortable look. "I'm not your dear…where am I?"

The elf gave her no more emotion except for his soft smile. He then raised an open hand and gestured to the sight in the north. "My Lady, you are in the land of Lothlórien, the Golden Forest of our kin, and here we stand before our finest settlement, the great city of Caras Galadhon."

Leafa's eyes were widened as large as they could go. She was blown away by the tower of golden trees sitting atop a great hill in the middle of the forest. There also appeared to be great treehouses of sorts that sat in the canopy atop the great golden wood, and even from this sight Leafa could tell this was a great city.

"Wow…nice place."

"Yes." The elf nodded. "We have been expecting you, Lady Leafa of the Fellowship."

"Y-you have…?" Leafa said with nervous tension.

He laughed. "Why of course. This great forest is ready to join the cause, and you will be the one to help us do it, but for now please follow me past the guard and into the city."

Leafa obliged and quickly followed the party into the central forest.

As they entered the city, walked its paths, climbed its steps, and located its central tower Leafa believed she had been taken to a completely different game. The sun set as they entered Caras Galadhon, but the golden forest of mallorn trees illuminated the night like a yellow flame atop pure white torches. Leaves fell from the trees in graceful spirals, and blue glowing flickers surrounded everything on the lower floors with a wondrous glow.

Leafa was smiling the entire way into the inner sanctum until they finally arrived at the biggest house in the village. The floor was smooth white wood and golden petals were scattered all about. Leafa and her new company looked up to the entrance and were quickly greeted by a flash of white light as soon as the doors opened, followed by two emerging figures.

Then, one of them let out a faint giggle and waved her hand. "Oh wow hey Leafa!"

"A-Alicia?" Leafa was at a loss for words once she saw a short, tan blonde haired elf step forward from the white light in a cloak of green and white armor.

The girl ran down the stairs with a smile. "Yea long time no see! Is it just you or are there others?"

Leafa awkwardly crossed her arms. "No it's, it's just me…I was with Recon, Silica and Sinon but we were separated back in Rohan."

"Oh no…" Alicia lost a little bit of her cheer and lowered her head. She then went to fill the silence with more words until a second figure spoke from the doorway.

"Do not act so troubled, Leafa. You're friends have not fallen without you."

Leafa and Alicia both turned around to find Sakuya, the leader of ALfheim's Sylph faction walking down to greet them. She had a gorgeous gown of pure white and a thin golden ringed crown around her head of long, shadowy-green hair. Her eyes looked calm as she delivered a smooth smile and joined her friends.

Leafa let out a small smile in return "Sakuya, Kayaba said you'd be here…"

"Oh so that _was_ Kayaba?" Sakuya laughed. "Well that's rather creepy…but yes we have been her in Lórien gathering our strength for the fight." She then reached out and grabbed Leafa's hand. "The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true."

Leafa nodded. "So you said you know where my friends are?"

Sakuya nodded. "They are scattered, but they remain strong. Sinon has raced north to Erebor, where she met with your other friends in the dwarven kingdoms. Silica has entered Edoras, the Capital of Rohan. Recon I'm sure you realize is currently inside Fanghorn…and down in the southern seas, Asuna Yuuki carries the weight of the One Ring through the Realms of Gondor, and closer to our enemy."

"Yes, but only to destroy it." Leafa confirmed.

"Oh I don't doubt that." Sakuya insisted. "I am just stating the obvious. Her route is dangerous, and it is rather sad we have to destroy the weapon first by delivering it to the enemy. Still…" She turned to the door. "There is more to be done."

A long pause took the room until Sakuya turned back around. "Alicia, keep training the other new recruits. Leafa, please follow me."

She extended a graceful hand out for the blonde elf to grab, and Leafa nodded and accepted the gesture.

As they walked together down the long hallway and to the basin of the tree, Sakuya let out a giggle. "So, you and those friends really want to save him don't you?"

Leafa felt awkward and started getting a little annoyed. "Please don't…it's been rough on all of us."

"Oh right." Sakuya looked sorry and turned her head. "You know, there is more than one reason the council sent you here of all places."

"Is it because of my faction?" Leafa said with a smart aleck remark.

"Well obviously, but it isn't just to gather an army…" Sakuya had one arm linked with Leafa's as they walked down the spiral staircase, and now she reached over to grab her other hand, only this was the one with her glowing blue ring.

"The world of virtual reality is changed, Leafa. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was has been lost, for none now see the true terror. In the lore of this game it began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, who are said to be immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings." She then touched Leafa's ring with her finger.

"You carry _Vilya_ , the Ring of Air. This is the most powerful ring in the entire game, with the exception of _the One_. It is the mightiest of the 3 elven rings, and is only ever given to a master elven sorcerer."

"It is?" Leafa removed her hand from Sakuya's and grazed the blue gem on top with her thumb.

Sakuya smiled. "You have powers far beyond your friends' capabilities in this world, Leafa. Sauron will try to use all the magic he can, but you will need to be the one to stop him from gathering total dominion over magic."

They then came a crossed the end of the staircase, and now they looked to a stony alcove in the middle of the forest floor. There was golden moss all around and trickling streams of water too, but in the center of the floor stood a lone silver bowl atop a stony table.

Sakuya walked Leafa to the bowl and removed her arm from hers. "Apparently this is _The Mirror of Galadriel._ It's used in the Elven realm of Lothlórien, and it has the ability to show the viewer things that were, and things that are, and things that yet may be…"

Leafa was enchanted by Sakuya's description as her eyes became lost in the presence of the silver basin. She had no idea what to expect until Sakuya grabbed a shining pitcher out from underneath a tiny stream of water and began pouring more crystal clear liquid into the top of the pool.

"Show yourself…what you see."

Leafa quickly became lost in thought as her eyes lowered to the bowl. The mirror top showed her own reflection, but then skipped to Asuna, smiling with her bright brown hair blowing in the wind.

It lifted Leafa's spirits up, and they continued to grow as Lisbeth, Silica, Sinon, and all the others passed through her view as well. And then…

Kazuto, her ideal brother and literal cousin showed up in the mirror. Leafa almost let out a tear, and even tried to reach out and touch his face, but she restrained herself from gracing the waters.

But suddenly Kazuto's face vanished underneath shadow, and the Mirror went altogether dark, as dark as if a hole had opened in the world of sight, and Leafa looked into its emptiness. In the black abyss there appeared a single Eye that slowly grew, wreathed in shadow and flame, until it filled nearly all the Mirror. So terrible was it that Leafa stood entrenched, unable to cry out or withdraw her fierce gaze.

The Eye was of course rimmed with fire, but the black slit of its pupil opened on a pit, a window into nothing.

Leafa tried tearing her mind away from the experience before her, but a force stronger than she held her tightly into view. Then, she heard a voice, an eerie speech take the air.

 _Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,_

 _ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul._

"AGH!" Leafa heard herself yelling, and her skin was growing hotter and hotter. She also heard a terrible screeching sound take her ears, and then quickly in the blink of an eye she stumbled backwards back into the mystical blue and golden night of Lothlórien, dazed and confused from the horrible sights that fell before her just moments ago.

Sakuya stood off to the side, still holding her jar. "I know what it is you saw, for it is also in my mind."

Leafa let two tears run down her cheek out of fear, and continued to let Sakuya speak. "It is what will come to pass, if you all should fail. The Fellowship is breaking, it has already begun. He will try to take the Ring, you know of whom I speak. One by one, it will destroy them."

Leafa started shaking for fear of her future, and then remembered Sakuya talking about the powers of a great elven sorcerer. She then took her blue _Vilya_ off her finger and handed it out to Sakuya. "I-If you ask me to, I will give you my Ring…you can become the sorcerer our Fellowship needs."

Sakuya raised an eyebrow. "You offer it to me freely? How funny, I cannot deny that I have greatly desired this..."

Sakuya inched forward and reached out to grab the ring, her eyes nearly blackened with desire. However, just before her fingers touched gold, they took Leafa's and curled them up to conceal the ring underneath.

"But no, _you_ are a Ring-bearer, Leafa. To bear a Ring of Power is a noble cause, and only you must become the great elven sorcerer."

Leafa looked afraid. "But what if I can't? What if I can't do it alone?"

Sakuya smiled and grabbed her other hand. "To be a Ring-bearer is to be alone. You will find your friends eventually, but you will not be the same person. You will become a vital ally to save both them and this cause. To save Kirito."

Leafa stopped for a moment and looked down at her ring. She then took a large gulp and nodded.

"Okay, if you can train me, I will become stronger."

* * *

As Leafa and Sakuya conclude their mythical sightseeing in Lothlórien, we come a crossed the sailing Gondor barge in the seas of the south. Asuna and her small company have been rowing closer to the shores, and they must quickly make their decision on where they need to land.

However, while some of the secondary leaders are trying to dictate a path, Asuna sits alone at the front of the barge. The female knight had become rather reclusive after she unwillingly stuck a dagger into Mortimer's heart, essentially saving his mind and soul from corruption. On the other hand it was still a decision she would have preferred making on her own accord.

But alas, she never made the decision. Her mind just told her to do it, to stab him without cause for concern. It was the Ring, it had to be the Ring. If it was slowly ruining her mind, why would it not start affecting others around her as well? Yui was becoming quieter around her too. Could she feel the evil energy coming out of it? Did she know it was making mommy think terrible thoughts of shadow and flame? Of nightmares that ended with Kirito killing her and sending her off into a black empty pit of nothing?

These thoughts, these terrible dreams needed to come to an end, and for now Asuna tried to enjoy her own time alone at the front of the barge.

Until Chrysheight walked over and sat down next to her. "Well, the crew says they wish to bring Mortimer's items into Gondor. The body disappeared after he was killed, but some of his items dropped, and they believe they should go to Eugene."

Eugene was leading the defense on Gondor's eastern door from Mordor. He probably had no idea his brother was now dead, and a new plan was probably going to be made.

Asuna never made a sound before speaking up. "I didn't want to kill him. I was trying to think of another way, but…"

Chrysheight nodded. "You didn't want to stab him, but in the end it was the right move. Remember Mortimer is not dead, he has just been removed from the fight."

Asuna nodded with a low face. "So what now? Where do the others want to go?"

"Well they wish to head to our original destination." Chrysheight explained. "The Ruins of Edhellond will take us close to the western capital of Dol Amroth. There we can gather a great host and join the others in the east."

Asuna looked to the approaching shoreline of Gondor. "And how bad is that fight in the east? Do we know what's going on?"

Chrysheight shook his head. "We can only imagine it is not going well. Gondor alone does not hold enough power to withstand Sauron and his men in Mordor, after all he created the game, so he'll know every weakness to take advantage of on our side."

Asuna never moved her head in reply. "So how long will it take to reach Dol Amroth?"

Chrysheight shrugged and pulled up a map. "Well we are docking at ancient ruins, so there's a good chance we will see no road to take us to the city. Give it a day or two, plus time in the city to gather what troops we can, add just under a week to walk…well I can't say it'll be a journey made over night."

"So it sounds like no matter how many Gondor troops we get, it won't be enough…" Asuna's gaze left the rocks straight forward and turned to lowland in a south direction. She then looked up to Chrysheight's map and saw a great river delta coming out of the south, and after tracing its path she noticed the route lead straight to their destination—Mordor.

Then she sighed. "We value time more than soldiers. We can't go east, take us south."

"Wha-?" Chrysheight now noticed Asuna standing up. "B-but we must gather all the forces we need to in Dol Amroth. And Besides I need to leave for the north as soon as we make land, and this is the fastest way we'll get to…"

Asuna hated being rude, but ignored him either way. She then turned to the rest of the crew, namely the man steering the barge.

"Turn us south towards the river, we're going straight to the capital."

"Whoa Missy, we've got strict orders from command to gather forces at Dol Amroth before heading to…"

"We don't need men, we need time. I have allies coming from the north who will bring you men, thousands if you need it, but right now we're running out of time. Take us south, and take us up the Great River."

The captain sighed. "Look, I understand you're our Ring Bearer, but you are not a commander. Right now we follow the…"

"I'm sorry, but whose meeting did we just come from? Klint's? Mortimer's?" Asuna said with bite in her voice. "Oh that's right, Kayaba's. Well if any of you remember who he is, you'll know he operated the game Sword Art Online. He also commanded the greatest guild the game ever saw, the Knights of the Blood Oath…"

She then stepped up and looked right in the captain's face. "Now, his orders were to get down to Gondor and get there as fast as we can. He has other allies coming for us when the time is right, but until then our goal is to get to the capital as fast as we can."

Several crewmen started laughing, and the pilot was starting the get angry with her, but to ignore all of the distractions, Asuna closed her eyes, and opened her inventory

She then equipped a new item, and emblem of sorts into a support slot for her avatar. Once the item was in place her name changed from white to gold.

The men stopped laughing, and the angry pilot's face changed from mad to astonished. Then Asuna continued.

"This is a command emblem. You all recognize it from Gondor? Mortimer gave it to me not too long ago. He never told me, but when he died he wanted me to take the command of this unit, and that's what I'm doing."

Chrysheight was at a loss for words as he collected the scene. _"Mortimer must have given to that after he fell…that's why Asuna didn't want him to go yet…she wasn't ready to take command."_

He then turned to a now defiant Asuna looking at her new subjects. " _But now…"_

Asuna then pointed at another sailor. "You, relieve the captain from his place on the helm and steer us down south, towards the Great River."

No one fought her word, not even the captain. The new man slowly crept over and took the wheel from the silent pilot and then went over to join the others.

Finally, Chrysheight shook his head a bit to clear his mind before speaking up. "Well, er-commander…what's our next destination?"

Asuna walked forward to the front of the barge and looked out o the shore. She then drew her _Lambent Light_ and looked into the blade like a mirror.

"We're heading for the capital. Well find Eugene, and help him defend Gondor until the others arrive."

* * *

 **So Leafa now knows her role in the company, and Asuna just earned some badass points! I tried bringing out the old KoB Asuna for the story if you couldn't tell...**

 **Another chapter that I found myself using awesome Lord of the Rings music to write. This one used the Fellowship sound track "Lothlorien." These are all on Youtube by the way if you're ever not familiar with the songs, this one had a gorgeous intro that fit the scene perfectly.**


	25. 25: Flame of Udun

**Author's Note: Okay I've got a really good one for ya today...this one actually takes the greatest leap from the books and films, and might be the closest thing we've had to an original story line so far, so I hope you enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Five

The Flame of Udûn

 _"Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world."_

― Gandalf, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

The Northern Waste was a vast cold region of mostly ice and snow, in the far north end of Middle-earth, beyond the Mountains of Angmar, Mount Gundabad, and the Ered Mithrin altogether.

It was named _Forodwaith_. Little was known of it, except that it was an area of immense ice due to the proximity to the Gap of Ilmen, and evil cold created from the First Age.

Right now, several men from the central west lands venture into this frozen, inhospitable land in search of a secret location hidden from the regular map. They are all tired, hungry, and most of all freezing.

However, one man who particularly doesn't like the cold is actually doing rather well for himself in this venture up north, despite his frigid manor of speech.

"B-Boy this place s-sucks doesn't it? _Gy-yah_ how much f-further?!" Klein sarcastically yelled out for all his men to hear, assuming they could hear with the howling winds and frosty clouds rolling in every which way.

Yes, Klein was alive. He did not fall to shadow and flame in the halls of Moria, nor did he die to the hand of the mighty Balrog of Morgoth. Instead he made it out with some unknown force of magic that sent him out of his doom and into Rivendell of all places, and here is where it was all explained…

 _~Over a week ago, in Rivendell_

 _"_ _Wait a minute, you're telling me I'm alive!?"_

 _Klein sat in the center of a meeting room back in Rivendell with a hard breath as he was clutching his heart in excitement._

 _Akihiko Kayaba had no choice but to laugh as he drank a small glass of red Dorwinion wine with Klein._

 _"_ _Whoo hoo! I actually cheated death! Man I don't even think Kirito has come this close to awesome yet!"_

 _Kayaba shrugged in amusement. "I suppose not. Though, Kirito has created his own marvel in battle that can never be rivaled."_

 _"_ _Yea, true that…" Klein said with a smile. "Okay, so spill it, how did you get me out of there?"_

 _"_ _I didn't." Kayaba said abruptly, taking a sip from his glass. "I merely came to find you with burn marks of an unknown nature right on the floor of this house. It appears whatever you fought in Moria used a teleportation magic to save itself, and it must have rebounded on you as well."_

 _"_ _Yea, and I guess it had to register this place as my home or something…I guess it was the last bed I slept in inside the game!"_

 _Kayaba nodded, but then got serious. "Klein, what you fought was a Balrog of Morgoth. A deadly demon of fire and darkness created by old dark lords in the lore of Middle-Earth. One was hidden away in Moria, but apparently you unveiled it with your friends' escape."_

 _"_ _Yea, unlucky for us right!" Klein was trying to act optimistic with this entire scenario._

 _Kayaba shook his head. "This creature however did not originate from Moria, but in fact it came from a deeper and darker hell inside of Middle-Earth named Utumno."_

 _"_ _Autumn-no? Eh sorry I'm getting kind of sick of all these goofy names, hehe." Klein apologized but left room for Kayaba to carry on._

 _The resident of Rivendell nodded. "Utumno was delved very deep into the flesh of the Middle-Earth. Here the original Dark Lord built his first of many dungeons and deep halls of ice,_ _obsidian, and fire. Utumno had many hundreds of caves, tunnels, corners, and rooms, which allowed many things to remain hidden and secret for a very long time."_

 _"_ _It was here that the old powers of darkness corrupted the beings of light and turned good into evil. Orcs came from elves, trolls from the living trees, and even Balrogs from old and powerful mages. However, this land of Utumno is not dormant to this day…"_

 _Klein raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have a feeling I know where this is going…?"_

 _Kayaba pulled out his own map and laid it on the table. He then pointed to the frigid northern wastes. "If you look at the chain of the Forodwaith Mountains that curves around the bay in the west, you will find a small, long, narrow valley close to the intersection of these two mountain ranges. It goes north-east into the mountains and has several small valleys branching off from it. Ignore the branches and go to the end of the valley. Search around there and you will eventually_ _find it."_

 _"_ _It?" Klein asked wearily. "What the hell is 'it'?"_

 _Kayaba sat back. "An entrance into Utumno. They're called the Pits."_

 _Kayaba then pulled out a listed piece of paper and handed it to Klein. "Do not undertake this trip without adequate preparations. Make sure that you've brought a fair amount of food before you enter, as well as a suit of_ _warg fur_ _armor, because this trip will involve a long march through the cold of Forodwaith. Also make sure you bring along good battle armor and weapons, because you will need them sooner or later..."_

 _Klein started licking his lips after taking the letter and map. "Whoa you're telling me I get my own mission to slay a big ass demon?! Man this is way better than the original plan!"_

 _"_ _Klein, the enthusiasm is grand, but this cannot be taken lightly. Your original mission was to aid in the assault in the north, and that has not changed. This balrog has more than likely fled to Utumno, and it will gather more strength and a host of its own to join in the battle at Gundabad. You must stop it before it harms your friends."_

 _Klein nodded and stood up from the table. "Understood captain. You can count on me!"_

 _Kayaba nodded, but was not finished._

 _"_ _The trip down to the bottom of the Pits is not for the unwary, for as the old tales say there is a terrible darkness still alive inside those halls...'"_

Klein was ready. He had no idea if his men were, but he was fully prepared for the darkest battle of his life. The sun was setting over the sharp icy peaks all around them, and even their torches and itchy warg-skin armor was not enough to keep them alive in the frozen night to come.

Then, a scout made his comment. "C-Captain! I see something ahead!"

Klein stepped forward through ice and snow to gather a better look, and once he did a black structure of sorts was sitting at the foot of a great big mountain range.

It was tall and sharp like a spire, but there were many points. It was ugly, and un-uniform. The stone looked old and black, and it looked like there was absolutely no sign of life. Finally, there was a tiny hole in the bottom of the main tower, and this looked relatively close to ground, perfect for an entrance.

Klein grinned and held his sword with a fierce grip as he signaled forward. "Okay boys, time to see whee these pits take us."

They marched through the rest of the setting sun into the lower edge of the tower, and noticed it was all black brick, but most of it was frozen over, like pure ice. Several men tried picking bricks up and breaking them, but it was impossible.

Klein held a torch as he looked inside and noticed a staircase followed the square wall all the way down its edge to the center of the floor below. He stepped into the room with his men in trail and as he entered his entire body, the game froze for a moment, and a quick message popped up for him to view.

 **"These ruins are ancient beyond measure.**

 **Be on your guard – there are older and fouler**

 **things than Orcs in the deep places of this world."**

"Good. Can't wait to meet them." Klein laughed to himself and carried on with all the confidence in the world as he and his men passed into the unknown. As the descended the staircase the host came a crossed the floor of the tower several steps below the surface. Here they came a crossed a pit in the center of the room, and once the looked inside, they all saw the darkest shade of black ever invented by man or earth.

Klein held out his torch and dropped it down below, but as he did the light quickly disappeared only a few feet into its plunge.

"Hehe…well this looks a bit more dangerous than we thought." He tried laughing but looked around as his collection of 30 or so players and NPC characters looked scared out of their minds.

Finally he sighed. "What? Am I the only one with adventure? Oh man…well Kirito, this one's for you." He then stepped up to the edge of the pit and plunged into the deep darkness below.

Several moments later Klein awoke cold and injured. His front was a little bruised, but other than that he only earned minor injuries after falling from his plunge into the pits.

"Ugh man…wow this is just as cold as up top." He then looked around and noticed the halls of Utumno were not just cold, but they were also dark.

"Whew…" He admitted, and quickly tried to pull up a torch, but as he did the flame from his light only extended about 3 feet or so in either direction.

"Ahehe well that isn't an option I guess. Man I wonder if…" As he began pondering the whereabouts of his teammates, he heard a faint falling noise, followed by 30 or so guys screaming at the top of their lungs who were raining down from above.

Klein ran over and stepped out of the way to allow all of them to land on top of one another and into the cold hard ground below. They all moaned in pain and agony and tried stepping off the person underneath them, but as they rolled off the mound they all looked to Klein who now had his weapon drawn.

"Okay, Kayaba said this place has three layers. This is the icy one I take it…" He looked around to barely see anything before him, but as he did his weapon never left his hand.

Then one soldier stepped up and handed him a bottle. "Relax. Agil left some of these in Rivendell. Kayaba said we'd probably need them."

Klein raised an eyebrow and took the vial filled with clear white liquid. He then shrugged and popped open the cap, and quickly drank the tiny elixir from within.

Immidiatey his eyes began to flash and the halls of Utumno lit up. The brick changed from a dark shadow into their natural bright white with blue lines. Klein was blown away by the natural brightness of the bricks, but did not let the false imagery from the night vision potion let down his guard.

"Okay, we need to find passage ways down through the lower levels and into the final hall of fire. I guess my old friend Mr. Balrog will be there waitin to die."

The men around him nodded with worried expressions, but followed him anyway as they all wondered off into the darkness.

However, it was not even a few feet into a cross section of hallway before they find several arrows darting out to kill them.

Klein looked over to find a troop of orcs running at them with swords and bows, only instead of the regular grey and black armor from above, these ones had orange armor mimicking flame.

"Charge!" Klein said as he swung his katana sword at the first orc, and sure enough his small force bravely followed him into the battle. They didn't lose any men, but it was only about 10 orcs vs 30 rangers. However it acted almost like an even fight, they were that strong.

Klein continued to slice through their front lines until he heard barking and growling, and then he looked down the next corridor to find a pure white warg wolf with blue accents charging him down with a cloud of frost all around it. The beast revealed its razor sharp teeth and pounced on the leader Klein with all its claws undone.

Klein's armor was thick, but not as thick as he would have liked it to be. H wrestled with the beast as his men pierced it with arrows, but then more creatures came in and attacked them from a flank.

Klein got up for a moment and ran down the short hallway to spin around and re-gain his advantage, but as he did the warg followed him and pounced once again, only this time it knocked him backwards and they both fell into an endless hole that fell to the end of the world.

Klein fought with the beast in mid-air as they both performed a freefall to death. The warg sliced open one of his shoulder plates, but Klein clocked it in the face with a swift punch from his fist.

Then Klein spotted his sword falling as well, and reached out to grab it, and as he did Klein took it by the handle and stabbed the warg right through the side of the head with a fierce jab, killing it before hitting the ground.

Klein had just enough time to gather leverage and use the large furry warg to land as a cushion, which softened his blow and kept him alive. He then dusted some of the blood off his left shoulder and continued keeping his sword high.

"Well, I hope this potion doesn't have an expiration date…oh man, I lost the guys!" He looked back up to the never-ending sky hole, but with no hint or clue did he even try to guess which height they were at.

In any case, the lone ranger continued into his new destination, but these halls before him were not made of white, icy bricks. They were instead lined with dark, deep purple bricks joined at cracks by orange light.

It was the hall of obsidian. Klein had fallen so far he had plummeted down into the second layer of Utumno. He would have tried putting that into greater perspective, but now he heard a voice coming from the front path.

"Please... help... us!"

Klein raised an eyebrow, and he did not like the sound of whatever pathetic creature was found lurking behind the corner. He stepped cautiously into sight until he saw three poor beings dressed in black with melty green/grey skin, each looking rather dismal and depressing.

One of the poor soul spoke again. "Who are you? How did you come here? There is no hope in this place…You will succumb to the darkness."

Klein raised a hand. "Whoa you look like one of those elves, but kinda gross, or maybe…" He then realized he provoked them with his sword, and now they were starting to act out.

"No, no, no! This cannot be! You are just another one of _His_ puppets sent to torture us! Leave us alone!"

"Geeze! What the hell happened to you? You said torture!?" Klein really didn't care, but now he was curious.

"He took us away. He tortured us. He turned many into those foul orcs! He will not turn me! No!"

"Who!?" Klein insisted from the top of his voice. "Who did this to you?!"

Finally they all three started speaking at once. "There is no escape from this darkness. There is no hope."

Then, all three of the tormented elf creatures drew orange blades just like the orcs from above, and right then Klein knew this place was much more dangerous that the last.

"Agh great…" he sighed and held his katana high to deliver a fatal blow to the poor innocent souls who desperately needed any salvation they could earn.

Klein continued through the halls of obsidian to find more tormented elves, along with more well-armored orcs, wargs of purple fur, and even some cave trolls. He fought by himself, but being a master swordsman helped him face this task alone.

He had no idea where the rest of his crew was, but none of it mattered as he descended further into darkness and more layers of the earth to find his goal. He had no idea where his bearings were either, but down here in the cold earth, it really didn't matter.

Then, the disgusting smell of torment started to change as he made it to a lower floor, and here things started to smell smokey, and almost inflamed. Klein used it as a good sign to locate the nearest hole he could find, and without hesitation this time he jumped right down and landed on his feet.

Klein tried to shake off the shock from his ankles hitting the ground, but he was also in alarm when he realized the brick had changed down here as well. The purple brick with orange accents had changed into a deep crimson red brick, sealed only with red flaming cracks. Klein knew this was it, the last level of Utumno—the level of fire.

Although he only needed the bricks to locate that answer, he also saw lines of fire all about the halls before him. This sort of helped him see better than before, because his light potion was starting to dull down a bit. However, he also didn't need to worry too much about the flames with the help of the gift given to him by Lisbeth.

 _Narya_ was its name—the Ring of Fire. It was described as having the power to inspire others to resist tyranny, domination, and despair (in other words, evoking hope in others around the wielder), as well as giving resistance to the weariness of time. Klein understood this because although he suffered from cold and pain during his journey, he never once found himself discussing the weight of time or hours it took to get there. Now that he thought about it, he had been in the pits for a very long time, but to him, it felt like a little under an hour.

Narya also had a second ability given to the wielder in this game alone. Being the Ring of Fire, it would appear that Annatar (now the Dark Lord Sauron) created the ring to give its user _fire resistance_. This was originally meant to help the fighter vs. the fires of Smaug the Dragon, but seeing as Balrogs were creatures of shadow and flame, it didn't hurt to have it here as well.

Klein liked his new trinket, and he took pride in making sure it was eventually returned to its owner, Lisbeth, but for now he needed it to find and defeat his enemy.

And low if it didn't take him long to locate it.

There was a great big bowl of a room, deep within the fiery chasms of the lowest levels of Utumno. Flame illuminated it like a great coliseum for the underworld, and within its center was a horde and trail of fire, followed by _it._

The Balrog of Morgoth stood with its wings spread and its flames high. All the creatures surrounding it feared its great size and stature, but they did not flee. They seemed to stand around its base, and looked to be taking orders of assembly.

Klein wasn't into this little meeting and decided to swallow all his pride the moment he stepped foot into one of the viewing holes of the room. "Well…I probably need to stop jumping into these situations like an idiot…"

He laughed to himself and drew _Karakurenai_ , his trusty katana for the final time of the evening, and with one quick breath, he plunged into shadow and flame and ascended on the beast.

"FOR KIRITO!" Klein yelled at the top of his lungs and alerted practically every fiend in the arena, but his eyes were solely met with the Balrog's who turned to give him a nice glare.

Klein came down yelling out his war cry and went to deliver the first strike, but the Balrog effortlessly lifted his fist and backhanded Klein into the side of the wall.

Klein landed in a great big boom and coughed up the ash and smoke that was caused by his landing, and before he gave up he spun out of fire from several arrows trying to hit him. He ran by and killed several grunt men with great big swords, but only to clear a path to the Balrog's feet.

The great fire demon yelled out a fierce cry, and then summoned a mighty sword from its right hand. It then smashed the sword made of pure flames right down on Klein's head, but once again a red orb illuminated around the hero and saved him from the flame.

"Yes!" Klein cheered for a brief moment before leaving the inside of one of the Balrog's hooved feet with a great big scar. The creature wailed in pain and tried stepping on Klein, but the nimble ranger was too quick for his feet.

However, Klein landed right in front of a great host of enemy orcs and beast. He sighed and readied his blade as he took the first one head on, but then he heard a wonderous noise from above.

""IT'S KLEIN! GET IN THERE AND HELP HIM!"

All the men from before were surrounding the arena and they all jumped out of their holes and hallways to plummet into Klein's aid, and with his new host to his back Klein now had an easier time combating the grunt men.

However, some of them tried taking on the Balrog itself, to which Klein protested. He threw rocks at the beast to keep the agro fixated on himself, and then demonstrated that he was the only on with fire resistance.

The nodded and agreed, and all tried taking out the orcs and such on their own time. The battle was fierce, but it was also now more even-sided.

Klein performed a few more rolls to try and get below the Balrog, but the wall of fire was slamming its sword into the ground to try and hurt Klein by weight instead of flame. This was not protected by his ring, and now he had to strategize while also use his sword as a propped shield. Should he waste time and try to fight it head on, or suffer actually becoming vulnerable to try and deliver a kill shot?

The Balrog didn't have time for him to make the decision and went in to strike for himself, and Klein parried by delivering a similar "Reaver" sword skill like the one used in SAO. He sliced past the sword and tried poking the demon in the face, but once again it swiped its hands and knocked him into the wall.

Klein had a hard time rebounding from this one, but now he noticed the field was now covered in the trail of flames from the Balrog. His soldiers could die if they took one false step, and now the brute was starting to target them as well.

Klein was not about to let that happen, and as a result he chased the demon until he had its great big tail, and then started climbing onto its back. The Balrog yelled out in anger and tried to claw at Klein to get him off, and then Klein rolled off and left a few slices on its neck.

Finally he rolled down its right arm and gave it a good stab right above the wrist, which caused it to cry out in terrible pain and drop its sword at the same time.

Klein started smiling until the 20 foot tall beast kicked him like a mule and sent him flying one last time. It then summoned a great big fiery whip with its left hand and started charging down the army Klein brought in.

"Agh…no…I can't…I can't let it…" Klein tried fighting with his own strength to get up and defend them, but at this rate he would have been the only one left alive. The Balrog was advancing quickly and Klein was running out of energy.

"No…I won't fail them…these guys…Lis…Kirito…I WON'T GO DOWN EASILY!"

Klein channeled all the remaining energy from his _Narya_ ring and stood tall. He then ran forward and grabbed the great big Balrog sword with both hands and dragged it behind him as he ran right for the Balrog attacking his party.

Then, before the demon lifted its terrible whip, Klein spun the sword around and jammed it right through its back, causing it to cry out in a gruesome pain and fall to its knees. All the beings and creatures fighting the party covered their eyes and fell as well, and before any more ran in to fight a new light came out of nowhere.

A column of pure angelic light flashed down from the ceiling and pierced the dead corpse of the Balrog, illuminating the room and guiding the saviors to their freedom.

Klein took a breath of satisfaction and took the now smaller whip from the Balrog's hand and placed it in his inventory. He then let out a laugh.

"Hehe well I'll be damned…let's go boys!" Klein high-fived some of his half-wounded warriors as they climbed the light and ascended back into the Middle-Earth. However before they left one man spoke up to his leader.

"So sir, any idea where to go next?"

Klein laughed for a moment and shrugged. "I dunno, I guess we could leave whenever! Kayaba already gave me my next mission before I left!"

"Really?" Another said. "So where's it say to go?"

Klein laughed again. "Some place called _Harondor_? I think…eh I hope its close! I doubt he'd send us _that_ far after that hell of a trip up to the Arctic!"

His men all slapped their faces, because they knew where their next mission was. It was going to be a long walk for Klein, a very long walk, but no one wanted to break that to the new Balrog-slayer until they got well out of the cold, and onto their next road.

* * *

 **Ya know it seems like all the epic chapters get released on Thursdays...I should have waited one day to begin the full release to make them all end up on Fridays!**

 **Yes Klein never died, wooooo! He found the Balrog again and kicked its ass pretty good...also do we have any _Minecraft_ players in the audience? Specifically players who have experienced the _Lord of the Rings Minecraft Mod?_ ...you might have recognized a good amount of this chapter's elements from that mod. If not check it out, it's pretty epic and the creators put _TONS_ of hard work into it. **

**Fun stuff either way! Fan favorite character going places we never saw in the books or films! Tomorrow's chapter is sort of similar, it's place was in the books/films, but I'm using it _A LOT_ differently...and another seemingly SAO fan favorite. Until then!**


	26. 26: Graveyard of the Past

**Author's Note: Another good one for ya! This one is also semi-unconventional with respect to the books and films. The location was in the _Fellowship of the Ring_ , but not in this setting...also I went a little overboard again with the geographic introduction this chapter. Sorry...my undergrad degree was in Geography, and I really like the Middle-Earth Map. **

_**Extra note: Hey did anyone else hear about this SAO live action thing coming to America? Weird...**_

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._ **

* * *

Chapter Twenty Six

Graveyard of the Past

 _"It is not the eastern shore that worries me. A shadow and a threat have been growing in my mind. Something draws near, I can feel it."_

― Legolas, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

To the south end of Rhovanion sat the middle river land of the Anduin. Here were several low-country sides with brown grass and rock, but one place known by name was Emyn Muil.

The hills of Emyn Muil, upon either side of the lake Nen Hithoel, was a vast, seemingly impenetrable maze of rocky crags in the lower middle region of Middle-earth. The vegetation in this region was also a sight to behold in itself. The slopes rose gradually in the north with great brakes thorn and sloe, brambles and creepers. Near the river, ivy clung to grey stone chimneys and further ridges were topped with firs twisted by wind. On three sides Emyn Muil ended in cliffs. In the west the uplands ended abruptly in the East Wall of Rohan. In the south the Anduin cascaded over Rauros, a great waterfall. In the east, although of lower elevation, the barren hills still ended in a steep edge.

The Anduin also cut through the hills on its southward course. In the north the river narrowed and passed through Sarn Gebir rapids. No boats could survive these torrents, and travelers had to use a portage way on the west bank to climb up and down the cliff. South of Sarn Gebir the river plunged between towering cliffs until it passed between the two great statues of the Argonath. A little further and the pent waters opened into a long oval lake called Nen Hithoel. On the southern end of the lake were three peaks: Amon Lhaw on the east bank, Tol Brandir amid two arms of the river, and Amon Hen on the western side. At the foot of Amon Hen was a green clearing, Parth Galen, and south of it was the North Stair that allowed for passage to the bottom of Rauros and Emyn Muil altogether.

It was here that a great host of the north began its departure for the southern wars between Gondor and Mordor. Using the Great River Anduin, a fleet of hundreds (maybe even thousands at this point) of elvish boats were seen sailing down the river from Mirkwood, just coming off the northern wood and down from a rendezvous from the dwarven camps in the north.

In fact, they were lead by a valiant warrior from the north, and of all people, it was the one who slayed Smaug the Dragon who led the Woodland Realm into their next mission and into the coming wars. All the kingdoms of Middle-Earth were assembling their masses, or fighting their battles, but right now Shino Asada was taking her great host into the next phase of combat

Or should we instead call her the great archer _Sinon_? Even here she was in the virtual world, so her avatar's name was clearly a better reference. After escorting the great dwarves of Erebor past the northern wood, Sinon's elves left their "allies" to fight in the wars at Gundabad while she began her decent down for Gondor. Although it looked like slow progress so far for the Fellowship, Sinon was making her best efforts to make due on her promise.

 _"_ _I'm getting you an army, Asuna. I don't know if it'll be whole, but I'll get it there…mark my words."_ Sinon was confident. Scared, but confident. She knew her elves were loyal to her skills ever since they helped her in Lake-town, but now she required their undivided attention as they campaigned down to their next fight, and their next stop happened to be Amon Hen of all places.

Upon Amon Hen were the remains of an ancient road that had dwindled to little more than a path. In places where the hill grew steep, stairs had been hewn, although over time they had become cracked, worn, and split by tree roots. The path wound through rowan trees to the summit, where there was a wide flat circle paved with large stones and encircled with a ruined battlement. In the center of the circle was an ancient chair, the Seat of Seeing.

The Seat of Seeing was an ancient chair built upon the summit of Amon Hen within a great circular stone-paved court surrounded by a battlement. The high seat rested upon four carved pillars and could be reached by a stair of many steps, but today it laid in only ruins.

Sinon studied her map carefully coming down the river, and realized the great water falls were quickly approaching. "Dock up ahead. We'll need to work our way slowly down the cliffs." She had no business or desire to trek through the rocky Emyn Muil to the east, and the west would have taken her out of track. So she made a careful decision to keep trying to go down stream.

That is until her crew started to grow tired. "Milady, we are in need of a break soon."

Sinn grinned. "Eh relax, we'll make camp up at the cliff."

"Whew!" "Oh thank god!" The human playing elves all comically sighed while the NPC elves nodded with modesty. Sinon even enjoyed everyone's mood so far and decided to turn and join them.

"Okay, so anyone have a good cooking skill in this game…if that's even a thing?"

"Yea I spent some time in Hobbiton back in the beginning. They got a lot of cool meals and treats you can make with just about anything."

"That sounds good!" Sinon admitted. "Can't wait to try some out!"

"Hey captain, you mind us askin' about that dragon you killed? We're all big fans of the films, so we just wanted to hear what it was like."

"Oh that…" Sinon rolled her eyes with a satisfied grin. "I guess. I basically just shot it with a little black arrow my blacksmith friend made for me, and without the elves to help injure him I wouldn't have been able to…" Sinon stopped talking as soon as she began seeing a weird glowing light coming from one of the elf sailor's sheaths. In fact she only noticed it because the sun was lowering, which kept the tiny blue light from staying hidden from view in the approaching darkness.

Sinon then looked around and noticed more and more swords started glowing, and then she even pulled out an elven dagger from her own belt and smiled at its magnificent glow. "Wow, do these elf blades come with build-in candles or something? That's pretty…"

"DRAW ARMS!" Sub commanders from every ship started blowing horns and commanding for a battle that Sinon had no idea was coming. She looked around with chaotic nerve as all the sailors frantically began grabbing their best weapons for attack.

"Uh hey! What is it?! I don't understand!"

"Elf blades glow when orcs are near!" One elf player yelled. "And our host is full of 'em!"

Sinon stopped and remembered seeing Silica's little _Sting_ sword doing the same thing when they were fighting in the Misty Mountains. She shuttered at the thought and turned her head down stream just as the sun set over the western horizon.

"Crap…well now where are they…?" She scanned the quiet forest edges around her with all senses alert. "Could they be on the left…or on the right?"

Sinon kept her ears sharp as her troops were quieting down, but just then flames burst through the left banks of the river, followed by the right.

"AMBUSH!" Her men yelled, and then a few of the front archers started shooting out at both sides of the bank. Before they knew it swarms of orcs were coming from both sides of the river, but weirdly enough not every arrow they shot was aimed at the elves.

"Are they…aimed at each other?" Sinon was trying to break the situation apart in her mind, but it was almost as if their elven host had just entered into a battle between two rival orc factions.

Sinon looked to both sides once again. On the left side was the east bank of the river, and these orcs held black banners with fiery red eyes. They looked a bit less organized, but there were a lot more of them in numbers.

On the other side the orcs looked to have a different banner. These orcs had a black banner with a mint green hand printed on the front. The same shade of green Sinon remembered seeing at Isengard, in the robes of Sigurd.

"Those are his men…" She narrowed her vision looking at all the Isengard orcs, and deduced the others to be some force of Mordor. As a result Sinon whistled to her crew and drew her own bow. "Sail to the west! We'll all dock on the Isengard side!"

"Ma'am!?" one first mate yelled as they tried dodging several flaming arrows.

Sinon shook her head to ignore him. "All men on the western back! Attack Isengard!"

The NPCs followed without a second command, and right then all the barges sailed and docked right up towards the large Uruk-hai warriors. Sinon jumped off the bow of her own boat and rolled onto the shore, quickly stabbing one of the approaching orcs with the tip of an arrow. She then stood and fired that arrow a crossed the river to the Mordor side.

"Archers! Nock arrows and aim for the east at Mordor! Melee-ers! ATTACK THE URUKS!"

Sinon never truly turned her back to the approaching forces of Isengard as she had so much faith in her second-in-commands. In her hopes, the sub captains followed her command and charged the powerful Uruk forces. Sinon on the other hand kept her focus with the archers and had all of them load their bows to fire over at Mordor.

"DRAW!" She declared, and she too drew back on the string from her high elven bow. She steadied her hands and closed one eye, and just as the wind died down and the large host of black orcs came into view on the other side of the river, Sinon made her command.

"LOOSE!" She ordered the fire, and just then Sinon and the hundreds of elven archers fired out to kill all the Mordor orcs who were in easy view along the eastern river.

Sinon repeated her command, and hoped to dwindle the Mordor forces down to irrelevancy, so that she could turn all her focuses on Sigurd's fowl creatures. She remembered he said he was also at war with Mordor, but she never realized the severity with his threats.

Sinon had to keep her command tight if she wanted to make it out of this skirmish with as many troops as possible. She could win with her numbers, that wasn't the issue. She had no idea how many elves would be taken though, or if she would be taken out as well.

Of course she'd be alright. She was doing all of this for Kirito, for Asuna, for Leafa, and for the rest of her friends. In order to see them all again, she had to step up and finish this battle out herself. The Uruks looked tough, but small in numbers. It was a good idea to dock on their side. However, the side from Mordor left her worried, so worried she had no idea how many there were.

In a quick instant she turned on her archery vision not to fire, but instead turned to the hills behind her. Sinon needed a vantage point in order to see the enemy attackers, and she needed a tall one at that.

Amon Hen, the Seat of Seeing. She didn't know what these letters on her map meant, but they looked like some sort of high structure atop a near by hill. She used her memory of these locations to try and find her point, so in a quick flash Sinon rolled out, shot an oncoming arrow with one of her own, threw a dagger at an approaching Uruk from the other side, and then proceeded to run towards the nearby hills.

It took her several minutes to run through the war and fire, but after dodging everything she finally found a stone path to an ancient ruin atop a lone hill in the forest. Sinon climbed up on the Seat to try and look a crossed the river, but there was now a great column of smoke and ash blocking her book.

Sinon equipped her bow to view and used it to gain extra sight as she looked through the trees and a crossed the water over to the Mordor side. She had no idea what to find through the shadows and torch flames, but every black figure that came into view helped her out immensely.

"That's 20 so far…plus those other fifteen on the north side…wow there seem to be a lot."

"Yes, there certainly does."

Sinon heard that voice from behind her and rolled off her rock perch, and watched as a black long sword slammed into the rocks just before hitting her.

Her eyes grew larger as she tossed her bow off to the side and drew two small silver and gold daggers, and then used them in a cross formation to block another blow coming in from the enemy sword. She struggled with the situation for a short period of time before she actually got a good view of the orc attacking her, but the thing was, she wasn't sure it was an orc.

They were cloaked, but not like a Ringwraith. The cloak seemed thinner, and so did the figure inside. The sword looked more like an orc blade, and the person seemed to be tall, but not tough. They were skilled however, and after bringing up the sword once again they back up and went to strike again.

Sinon used this to flip up and grab her bow, and soon enough she had an arrow notched and ready for firing, but just then the enemy held up a bow of his own.

It was compact, large and metal. It looked like it weighed as much as a sword, and the front had blades coming off the stock. It also looked menacing, like the arrow could pierce the steel. Sinon's heart raced for a short moment as their arrows stood face to face until the being started laughing.

"Hehehe Aheheheheheh…well this brings me back… _Shino Asada_."

The elven archer looked befuddled as she tilted her head, but then she saw it, two piercing red eyes lit like lasers under the dark hood, and now that the light was a little better, the beings cloak wasn't a full shade of black, but a mixture of dark camouflage.

It also had a named gamer tag, and its name was _Sterben._

"N-No…what…no this isn't…"

"Hehehehehe…little Sinon alone in the wilderness, just like the Bullet of Bullets."

"D-Death Gun…!? What the hell are you…no, you're not here at all."

 _*SLASH!*_

The arrow this supposed Death Gun had nocked in his string fired right by Sinon's cheek, and without her firing back it grazed right over her skin and left a glowing wound to bleed.

Death Gun laughed. "Looks like I am here…and I'm here with the forces of hell, as if I've risen from the dead."

"But you never died…no, you're both in jail like you should be, and this is all just a nightmare."

"Just cut it out with the shit, Sinon. I'm here, and you seem ready as ever to die…so how about I make up for OLD TIME'S SAKE!"

Death Gun lunged forward and threw his long sword right at Sinon's face, but she jumped down off her rocks to dodge it, and then turned to find her enemy holding a black thin estoc ready for attack.

Sinon drew her daggers and began spinning them to defer the stabbing from Death Gun's rapier-style sword, but he was far too quick to see. She ignored the fire and cries of death from below to keep track of her own life, and right then she knew it would be the hardest fight of her life.

Death Gun knew that too, and started laughing. "Ah how sweet it is. That ass Kirito is nowhere to save you, and now you're left all alone to die. How very fitting!" He swiped with a rare side blow from his estoc, and Sinon readied herself with a block by her left dagger. She back flipped near a tree and lunged off it ready to stab the enemy, but the Sterben avatar simply moved out of the way and watch her fall into the dirt.

Sinon rolled away and kicked a rock at her pursuer, and then flipped up to get back on her feet. She sheathed her daggers and grabbed her bow once again, and raced down the hill away from Death Gun and the battle below.

"Ah-hehh Ah-hehh…" She was beginning to breathe heavily in her sprint, and she had no idea what was going on around her. "H-How…I wonder how the others are all doing…and what the hell is going on? Is the game glitched? Is it trying to make me snap?"

Sinon continued to run through the trees until she heard a deadly whizzing noise. She hit the ground on a roll and saw a great big arrow slam into the tree trunk right in front of her.

"Geeze! How did he fire that from a bow?!" Sinon looked to find two red eyes staring at her, which prompted her to get up and run even faster.

"I gotta get to the river! I need to see my troops, and maybe get…" She tried to think about getting re-enforcements, but more arrows were firing at her from afar.

Then, her foot caught a root, and her head lowered in front of her, but at the same time several fire arrows soared from in front of her and hit the tree in the side.

Sinon looked to find several regular orcs running at her, which prompted her to rise to her feet and stab the first few with her daggers. She then drew her bow and shot the remaining three with rapid fire arrows, and without hesitation she turned to shoot a fourth at an approaching arrow from Death Gun.

The evil avatar laughed and continued walking as he notched another arrow, and without hesitation Sinon took in all her breath and decided to charge him now when the time as right. Neither of them were up or down hill, both were level. The field was pitch black, with the exception of the small kindling that smoked up from those fire arrows. Sinon felt ready to fight, and if she was prepared to fight anyone, Death Gun had to be it.

"You're a monster…I don't know how you made it here, but I'm not going down that easily!" She charged forward with her two daggers in hand and watched as Death Gun drew his estoc to defend. He then took the offense by stabbing her repeatedly, but she was able to dodge most of them in a quick flash followed by a swipe of her two daggers.

They both locked weapons and shoved out to give each other room to breath. They were now separated by several feet which gave them both time to adjust their attacks.

Sinon took her time to breath and concentrate on her enemy, and at that time Death Gun stepped back and gave his blade a twirl.

"You're still the same person, Sinon. So naïve. It kills me that I never killed someone as weak as you back in that tournament…" He pulled out a torch from his inventory and began lighting his estoc on fire.

Death Gun then threw the torch into a nearby bush and let it light up with fire, causing the whole area to become illuminated by flames.

Sinon's sea green eyes lit up like they were about to witness death, and for the first time inside MEO she felt fear just like she did as a child. She had no idea how to cope with any of it, she felt so small in this world of shadows and death.

"AGH!" Finally she held her words and charged forward to combat Death Gun and his fiery sword. She charged up with her daggers twirling, and one by one they landed quick blows on Sterben and his blade.

Death Gun too managed to catch some of Sinon's body and weaponry, and now a piece of her elven robe had caught fire.

Sinon rolled out of battle and rubbed her arm against a tree to scrape off the ash and burnt fabric. She then ripped a sleeve off her left arm and continued to fight. Slash after slash Sinon tried landing deadly accurate blows to end the fight once and for all, but Death Gun was far too quick, and far too good.

Finally, the great killer he was created a star of sorts out of the air and knocked one dagger out of Sinon's hands, and followed up by knocking her to her behind.

Sinon held up her remaining dagger to block his sword, but Sterben kicked it from her hand, and then kicked her in the cheek to spit blood into the dirt.

Sinon coughed up in pain as she leaned on her hands, and as she tried to collect her breath Death Gun started laughing.

"Hahaha…well that was just as easy as I figured it's be." He then put up his flaming sword and drew his metal Morgul Bow, and followed up with loading a large black arrow into its string.

Sinon started breathing just to keep alive, but she knew at this rate she was dead either way. Death Gun was standing over her near lifeless body, and now she understood what failure truly felt like.

"I can't…I can't…I'm sorry Asuna…I'm sorry everyone." Sinon started crying with single tears as she looked into the dirt, and just as she did Death Gun started laughing

"Such a fool…leave this world Sinon, and let Kirito enjoy the darkness." Sterben raised his bow and aimed his locked arrow right at her head, but before he could fire a blinding blue light took his vision from the south.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" A blue flame came crashing in to hit Death Gun in the feet, and just as Sinon lost all hope, Chrysheight the blue wizard came in with _Glamdring_ armed in his hand ready for combat.

Death Gun spun around and shot his loaded arrow for the wizard's head, and watched as it broke from the staff's magic. The mage then shot out a bolt of blue energy, but it dissipated as Death Gun turned stealth on and vanished into thin air.

Quickly enough he re-appeared behind Chrysheight and sent his sword into the mage's shoulder, but the wizard was quicker than he realized and spun around to knock the attack away. Now they were both locked in battle with a fierce clash of steel. One was glowing blue, the other blood orange. Back and forth they attacked one another, and before Chrysheight could gain the next upper hand he began to grin.

Right then Death Gun went to stab him in the chest, but in the quick flash of time Sinon came crashing in with a great big steel longsword and hacked Sterben right in the neck, decapitating his upper arm from the rest of his body.

Chrysheight somehow recognized the blade to be _Andûril_ , the Flame of the West. She must have earned it from Lisbeth on her departure from the north, and he had never been so happy to see a sword in his life as Death Gun fell to his knees and right to his death.

Sinon never changed her serious expression as the evil Sterben avatar turned into black particles and disappeared into nothing, leaving the two allies there confused in the conclusion of a great battle.

Sinon turned up her hearing to find her elves seemed alright below the hill. She then turned to Chrysheight. "Sorry, I would have been quicker but I ran into someone."

The Wizard laughed. "Relax, I never even expected you guys to bring your armies down so fast…bonus points by the way."

They both sheathed their weapons and Chrysheight decided to act serious. "He wasn't real you know. It was just his avatar, or his memory like Kayaba."

"But he was never killed in the real world, and it wasn't just one person." Sinon argued, remembering the Death Gun members were never killed.

The wizard nodded. "They weren't, but that wasn't any of them. In the virtual world, Death Gun is dead as dead can be. Do you remember the early powers of the Dark Lord Sauron, the works of a _Necromancer_? Sauron can revive the dead, and he knew you were approaching his borders. He used a dead memory from your past and sent it to lead his forces to attack you."

"But what about the Uruks?" Sinon argued. "These orcs were fighting each other far before we arrived."

"They were." He agreed. "But Sigurd sent his force to attack you as well. I suppose he knew you were going south the moment you went to Mirkwood. Wasn't he their original leader? I suppose he had a bit of envy for this host and wanted to see it die. The fact that they both ran into each other is just a coincidence."

Sinon shook her head with the collection of all that info, but either way she took her legendary long sword and tossed it to Chrysheight. "Here. You can have it."

The Wizard nodded. "Gladly. I was looking for this sword exactly, and I'm glad I only had to travel half the way."

Sinon picked up her bow and daggers and looked into the dark forest. "So where do I go? Should I keep rowing south?"

"No." Chrysheight said with a firm answer. "You'll head back west. Sigurd needs to be defeated, and the Rohan forces are not strong enough alone. You'll give Silica some help with the remainder of your army, and then assemble with her, Leafa, and Recon once you all have armies. From there you'll return to the east and join us all in Gondor."

Chrysheight then sighed and looked to the south. "The hiding shadow that scowls in the East will soon take its shape. Sauron will suffer no rival, and certainly not from Sigurd. From the center of Mordor that creepy eye watches eternally, but he isn't so mighty that he is also above fear. He has his own doubts heading into this war."

Chrysheight grinned yet again. "Why he won't just kick us out of the game and end it all is beyond me…but either way the rumor of our host has reached him. However, for all his greatest fears, we have one advantage…The Ring remains moving. Asuna will deliver that thing to Mordor, and each day she brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom…We must trust in Asuna to complete her mission, and eventually we'll join her."

Sinon nodded slightly, but hung her head low with a slight bit of grief, like she was at fault for something in the world.

Chrysheight grinned. "Hey, don't doubt Kayaba's plan on having all of you split up. We needed to leave her…Asuna needs to finish this task alone, and I already found my own guilt for abandoning her in Gondor with a fallen captain and a crew of fools."

Sinon stopped him. "She's not alone, Yui's with her in that necklace, remember?"

Chrysheight lifted his head with a small eye of hope. "That's right…Good. Yes, very good. She's going to need that extra bit of comfort to get along with her mission."

Finally Chrysheight clapped his hands together. "Great. I'll deliver this package to her now, which will take a good week…in the mean time make your way west to rejoin the others."

Sinon paused for a long time and took a deep breath. She then turned and began walking back down to the river to find her men. "Right…and if I see _him_ again?"

Chrysheight laughed and whistled for his white horse. He then waved a hand. "Nah, I think you'll be fine. Sauron only has a set list of tricks, and I think he's all out of plans for Shino Asada."

* * *

 **God dayum Chrysheight plays a pretty convincing Gandalf! Lol they're all fun characters to write actually. I re-watched SOOOO much SAO II for this chapter, specifically Gun Gale...however, this story is meant to be written in the POV of the English Dub (because I can't write in Japanese...) and English dubbed SAO episodes are _very hard_ to come by. So this was one of the most challenging chapters to write. **

**I wanted to give every character at least one good/solid chapter, we had a good Klein one last time and today's was Sinon's...more to come on Monday, but until then please comment and review!**


	27. 27: Raid on Gundabad

**Author's Note: Welcome back! We're here with more individual battles/story lines, and I'm really liking the chapter I have for you today. IDK about you guys but I'm getting kind of sick with all these elves...time for some dwarf action!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings_. **

* * *

Chapter Twenty Seven

Raid on Gundabad

 _"I wish I could muster a legion of dwarves, fully armed and filthy!"_

― Gimli, _The Return of the King_

* * *

The dwarves of Erebor had made their march from their northern stronghold in the Lonely Mountain all the way west, towards the upper Misty Mountains and into their old homeland, Mount Gundabad.

Today Mount Gundabad was a chief Orc mountain-stronghold situated at the northern end of the Misty Mountains, located south-east of the fallen kingdom of darkness, Angmar.

From the northern part of the Vales of Anduin, Mount Gundabad appeared to be the northern endpoint of the Misty Mountains and the western endpoint of the Grey Mountains, although slightly separated from both ranges. In actuality, the Misty Mountains continued past Mount Gundabad in a northwesterly direction (this extension was known as the Mountains of Angmar). In all maps the mountain was shown as having three conjoined peaks. Bordering Forodwaith to the north, the mountain undoubtedly had a cold climate.

However this climate and rugged terrain was no match for the dwarves of Durin's Folk. They were proud, strong warriors, and a few cold winds or rocky peaks wouldn't detract them from their main goal.

Erebor's army contained more than just heavily-armed infantry as well. In addition to having more than one thousand heavy infantry armed with spears, swords, axes, and shields, the Dwarve's army contained a force of five hundred warriors mounted on armored goats, several war chariots manned by four or so dwarves each and pulled by teams of six rams, and many more heavy ballistae manned by crews of five dwarves that fired javelins with unique abilities bread for the purpose of castle siege.

And rightfully so, a great host of dwarven soldiers is nothing without a fit commander. Leading these armies from the Halls of Erebor was the fabled great blacksmith of Aincrad and the new leader of Durin's Folk, Lisbeth. They had nicknamed her "The Iron Hammer" due to her divine skills in a forge. She was also an expert mace wielder from her time in ALfheim which gave her military perks as well.

Allied with Durin's folk was Agil, the proud brute from the Blue Mountain faction. His army was currently not present, but they were making their march eastward from the Blue Mountains into the battle, for a surprise sneak attack through Angmar and into the western front of battle.

Agil was ready for a battle, and Lisbeth was ready to end this war altogether. Both were tired, but they had spent a long time inside the game preparing their armies, meaning they were not about to lose.

Lisbeth was nervous on the other hand, and because she and Agil were not physically made into dwarves, they were the only warriors on horseback. "Well…this is kinda awkward."

Agil laughed. "Nah, they practically worship you like a god, it only makes sense that you ride higher than them for a little while."

"Hehe I guess…" Lisbeth looked around her great host and began to think of the battle. "So, I heard these guys are quite the warriors?"

Agil smiled and nodded. "Lis, just wait. These boys will rough up the enemy like it's their life goal! Hell it sort of is their life goal! We'll win this, re-rally back at the Lonely Mountain and then take ourselves down the river to find Asuna and the others."

Lisbeth liked the sound of that, but didn't let it distract her. "Right, but we have to win this battle first. That's our priority."

Agil agreed, but stayed quiet for a moment. He then pointed up ahead. "Look, we can set up the command camp for the night here." He pointed at a clearing between two slopes which left enough room for large tents and a few fires for a night time camp before the battle in the morning.

"We don't wanna go in here at night fall. A lot of these baddies hate sunlight so that may be our advantage in the morning."

"True that! Plus I hate fighting in the dark anyway." Lisbeth awkwardly agreed and dismounted her horse as her men began setting up for the camp.

That night the dwarves enjoyed a nice army-wide meal together in the valley, and the command enjoyed great stories around a large camp fire in the front of the flank.

"So we're still in the beginner's dungeon, Illfang is hurling around his new sword like he's gonna kill us all, and start's taking us out one by one. Next thing you know my boy Kirito blows through and takes him on by himself!" Agil was reciting his old fight from Aincrad in which he and the beginning assault team were taking out the first boss of SAO, Illfang the Kobold Lord.

"Asuna starts helping him and they both go down, so me and the others charge in to buy some time. I get Illfang right up side the cheek with my axe and sent him stumbling over."

"Oooh nice hit there, I reckon!" One of the dwarves raised a mug and laughed at the story.

Agil nodded and continued. "So then he clocks me pretty good, and all my men go down, but I'll be damned if Kirito and Asuna didn't come right in and kill him there. Ended the battle with a victory on that day."

"Eyyy!" They all raised their ale as if it were a legend of old, but all the dwarves seemed to love Agil and Lisbeth's stories from their past gaming experiences.

"So what about you Hammer? You never finished that story when you and that Kirito fellow were trapped in a dragon's dungeon!"

"Ahehehe…" Lisbeth modestly waved a hand. "Eh I kinda finished it the first time. Basically I just got us trapped it its pit and Kirito road the dragon out like a horse to get us out alive."

"Ay this lad Kirito sounds pretty amazing!" Yelled one of the dwarves. "No wonder all you players want him back alive!"

"Yea…" Agil sat back and scratched his beard. "Ya know not every player liked him so much in the beginning."

Lisbeth sat up. "Yea I remember you guys talking about that in Rivendell. Who were you guys thinking of in particular?"

Agil paused for a moment and raised an eyebrow. "Well that battle I just finished describing had a side story, a few nasty kids in the beginning assault team. There names were Kibaou and Lind. Kibaou was this head strong fool who came in looking to blame everything bad about SAO on the Beta Testers."

"Oh yea I remember him." Lisbeth tapped her chin. "Asuna said he was in charge of some big guild from the town of Beginnings."

She was right. Kibaou was one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in Sword Art Online and the former leader of one of the two top clearing guilds in the early days of Sword Art Online, the Aincrad Liberation Squad. In the aftermath of the 25th Floor battle inside SAO, his guild merged with MMO Today, and Kibaou became a sub-leader of the new guild that was named Aincrad Liberation Force.

According to Kirito, Kibaou was a short yet solidly built man with sienna, spiky (cactus-styled) hair. He also had a small goatee and brown eyes and wore a scale mail armor with a rather large one-handed sword on his back. Kibaou was also a power-hungry person who abused authority to accumulate more wealth and power by extorting taxes and items through intimidation.

"He went crazy after Kirito beat Illfang." Agil explained. "He started blaming him on everything from the leader's death to cheating in the beta test. It was some nasty tension, and it's probably the reason Kirito went all solo player on everyone."

Agil let everyone collect that before going on. "Lind was the same way. He was good friends with our task leader, Diavel, and once he fell in the battle Lind started pointing fingers at Kirito."

Lind was also one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in SAO. He was an avid admirer of Diavel and the leader of one of the two major clearing guilds early in the game, the Dragon Knights Brigade.

In the early stages of the game Lind even chose to model his appearance to be more like Diavel. Lind had his long, brown hair dyed blue and he wore silver armor consisting of a chest plate and shoulder plates, with a blue tunic underneath similarly to what Diavel had worn before his death. Lind was also armed with a scimitar, called _Pale Edge_.

Agil stopped for a moment at took a drink of ale. "They never even let the guy defend himself. And then Kirito jumped off the deep end…but hey that was well in the past. We're here in MEO now!"

"Aye! And we're gonna help get your boy out of this hell hole and back to Aincrad!"

"ALfheim guys…" Lisbeth laughed but rolled her eyes.

"YEA!"All the dwarves in the area raised a mug and shouted into the air with a unifying war cry. They then continued to cheer and drink until the night took them into sleep.

Lisbeth however wanted a little more info. "S-So do you think Kibaou even hated Kirito? Or was he just afraid for his own safety."

"Ah hell it was probably just fear." Agil quickly admitted. "If he was actually a bad dude I'd say he would have joined _Laughing Coffin_ or something like that. Nah Kibaou only wanted to get out of SAO alive. He's probably out there today playing some other game or something…"

He then looked to Lisbeth with a smile. "Hey how come you didn't share any more of your stories? They wanted to hear how you fight, and I know you had some good moves back in ALfheim."

Lisbeth crossed her arms and shifted on her seat. "Eh, well you know I'm not really that much of a warrior…I just didn't want to spill the beans to the dwarves."

Agil started chuckling. "Hell you're like the best mace wielder I know, and you're good with hammers too! No wonder Klein gave you his legendary weapon!"

"Yea…" Lisbeth paused and looked up to the black sky. "You think he's back in ALfheim? Or Japan trying to find Kirito in the real world?"

Agil sighed and looked up with her. "Eh where ever he is I'm sure he's fighting the good fight along side us…come on we gotta get t to bed. Big war in the morning."

Lisbeth let her eyes linger on the stars for a few more seconds before closing them and turning her head down. She then nodded and stood with Agil to set up her private tent and prepare for her long night of sleep.

Way past the next morning Lisbeth lead her crew with Agil behind her into the northern most valley of the mountains and into their next station, the Mountain of Gundabad. The valley was narrow, and Lisbeth only instructed several armored infantry to follow her in for scouting. However every man was armored, and the midnight blue banners of Durin's Folk were flowing in the breeze with seven silver stars atop a white anvil and hammer, and the crown of Durin sat in the middle to unite all the forces of his kin.

The ground was low, and the peaks around them were tall and jagged. There was a thin layer of morning fog everywhere, and all eyes were forward trying to depict any sight of moving from the stronghold on everyone's minds

It was portrayed as a tall fortress tower in the middle of a remote mountain range. Hidden cauldrons of fire light up the tower with a dim red glow at its base, almost like copper or rusted iron. The tower was also surrounded by sharp angled cliffs, and it too was designed with sharp edges and pointed t-shaped towers that made it look like the perfect fortress out of hell.

Lisbeth didn't like the look of any of the valley, and instructed all her men to stand down for a brief moment. She then turned and signaled for her war machines to make their advancement.

"Uh yea just bring in those big catapult thingies…ugh man why can't Asuna be here to help me out with this garbage…"

Lisbeth doubted her own command abilities, but moved aside anyway for her siege equipment to make their station and begin loading. Their commander yelled to load the domes, and on her hand's signal she ordered the first shot.

"Fire! Eh…" She had a befuddled look on her face as the dwarves all laughed with her and shot out their ammo. The boulders were all lit with fire, but they appeared to do nothing to the high steel walls of Gundabad or its rocky side peaks.

"Great, this thing looks like it's gonna be a bitch ta take down…" She turned and looked at Agil who gave her a wave of confusion. Lisbeth quickly shrugged with a response but then heard a crackling sound coming from high up in the mountains.

"What the…oh no…" She looked up to find sparks coming off the high peaks, and then heard her sergeants and sub commanders yelling out a new strategy.

"Yanâd Durinul!"

The dwarves all chanted back _"Sons of Durin!"_ in their native tongue behind her and raised their broad octagon steel shields in a single motion to slam them all into the ground. They then turned to either side of the hills and held the shields over their heads like a great big roof with walls on either side.

Lisbeth was at a loss for words until Agil road over, ditched their horses, and jumped with her into the bunker of live dwarves holding shields.

They waited for several loud bombs to drop on their heads, and loud sparks and brilliant flames erupted atop their shields to unleash a thick cloud of black smoke. The dwarves all laughed and raised their shields in order to dust away the shrapnel, and followed by turning to look back up the hills.

Now a flood of black and grey orcs were running down after them, charging at full speed, but once again the dwarves slammed their shields into the ground and raised them over their heads, creating a protective roof atop their entire unit.

"Ifridî!"

Lisbeth tried to get a better view and then heard the voice of more commanders from way back down the valley that held the rest of their forces, and these ones sounded a lot angrier.

"Ansaru, bekâr!"

She heard more yelling, and then peeked through some of the shields to find her entire unit of back dwarves were launching arrows and other projectiles at the charging orcs. They were killing them quickly and she watched as all the stampeding orcs were now rolling down the hill and flopping onto the shields for a good laugh.

This did not take out all the orcs however, and the edge infantry men knew they now had to raise pikes and begin their attack.

"Rakân, bekâr!"

The phalanx units of dwarves on both sides held their shield strong, and then lunged forward to pierce the charging orcs with mighty blows from their pikes. The dwarves who failed to hold their marks were replaced by other shields or pikes, or instead unleashed the fully armed dwarves with battle axes and swords. This battle started beginning with horde after horde of dead orc, but seeing as the enemy had more troops to spare, the true war had begun in Gundabad.

Finally the core unit under the central shields began laughing, and their sub commander started charging up his men. "Let's show this filth what the _Iron Hammer_ does with her enemies!"

"Ai-rusê!" All the dwarves released their unit shield and undid their weapons, which prompted Lisbeth and Agil to do the same. Mounds of orcs were charging down all the hills, but the dwarves were all armored and well-equipped for battle.

"Agil!" Lisbeth would run behind her partner and slam her mace into the face of an approaching orc, and then Agil would roll behind and throw a small throwing axe into an attacker's face. They worked well as a team, and their men were working even better as an army.

Agil slammed his axe into the side of one orc's head and then turned to laugh at Lisbeth. "So you think we're ready to hand them off to Asuna?"

Lisbeth turned to find all her dwarves violently killing everything in their path, and most had a maddening smile on their faces while they did it.

She laughed. "Yea as long as they're on our side I don't care what happens to them!"

Lisbeth and Agil continued to fight their way through the hordes of rabid orcs, killing a fair amount while also having each other's back. Their guard was also doing a good job at keeping the bulk of the forces away from them as well, and the rest of the army was well organized to defeat the approaching hill orcs with ease.

However, as the battle grew too favorable for the dwarves, several shots of fire rose up from the red tower of Gundabad, and then horns could be heard coming from its ramparts.

"BREAK THEIR LINES!" one fowl voice yelled from the top of his lungs, and right away the routing orcs were changing their course of running. Instead of coming down the mountain unorganized and crazed with rage, they started cutting the dwarven army in half, and separated Lisbeth's first vanguard from the rest of the other forces.

"NO!" She yelled. "But we need that full force to take the tower!" Lisbeth ran back, but Agil stopped her from going to far. Then more horns came from the tower, and as Agil and Lisbeth both turned to see its source, the gates at the foot of the tower rolled up and open.

Out came a river of deadly orcs ready for battle and death, and now that the dwarve's front lines were separated form their allies, they had no idea how they could undo such a numerous foe.

Lisbeth however tried to channel some of her already pumping adrenaline by raising her mace in the air and shouting at the top of her own lungs. "MOVE FORWARD!"

"AYE!" All the dwarves that were with her and Agil made no argument against their commander, and twisted their shields to line up with the charging river of orcs from Gundabad.

"Rakân, bekâr!" _"Rows and Arms!"_ They yelled, fierce with the defense of their people. Their pikes were long, and their shields broad. The dwarves held their front line for as long as they could until the army of orcs and now trolls came pouring into their flanks and began their clash for action.

"AHHH!" Lisbeth and Agil charged with them using their powerful weapons to their advantage and tried moving the assault right to Gundabad. They slashed through dozens of enemies before reuniting and joining up in the center of the raid.

"Lis! We gotta break that gate up and storm the fort!"

"On it!" Lisbeth rolled over and slammed her mace into the chest of a very tall orc ready to kill her. She then stood and knocked a few others in the face before sending them to ground, and rallied several loose dwarves to follow her forward.

"Come on guys! We gotta get to the gate before…!" Lisbeth turned to signal an advancement for the gate, but right then a swift and soundless bolt from a crossbow pierced the back of her right leg and forced her to fall to her knees.

"AGH!" She cried out, now dropping her mace to hold her wounded leg. The dwarves around her yelled like never before and killed everything in their path to allow her some breathing room, and Agil took up all his energy to fight his way over to her.

"Lis! What happened! Where'd they get you!?" He tried looking around, but then saw a crossbow bolt lodged in the back of her right calf. Agil's eye's started growing until he heard a voice yell out from the top of the tower.

"Holy shit, is that Agil!? HA! Last time I saw you, you were kissing ass to some beater in SAO!"

"N-no way…of all the people."Agil turned up to the command post atop the Gundabad tower to find a pale orc/man with spiky orange hair looking down at him. He also had a great big war club strapped to his back, and a crooked smile plastered to his face.

"Does that bitch know she shouldn't be fighting in a war like this?! She should stick to her little trinkets and toy making!"

"Agh…Kibaou!" Agil stood and yelled from the top of his voice. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, genius? I'm taking over a new game! You little fairies have had your fun in Fairy-Town ALfheim, but this game's coming to eat that one whole! I was just promised a front row seat if I just win this battle." He then gestured to a figure to his right. "Send them another one. They look like they need a second helping."

The figured nodded and shot out a quick second black arrow bolt, and Agil stoo right where he was and knocked it away with his battle axe. He then narrowed his vision. "Please…tell me that's Lind there with you?"

"Well how about that! You called him out!" Kibaou patted the quiet but just as angry Lind on the back. "He's just here 'cause he fucking hates that beater you guys worship. What's his name, Kirito?"

"You know his name Kibaou!" Agil yelled back. "You know his damn name, and you know this is stupid for you to be doing this!"

Kibaou shook his head. "No, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm here to take my new army into the world of gaming, and taking it all the way to the top. If your little imps wanna play along in the car ride in and follow me, then be my guest!"

He then turned and grabbed a torch, and followed up by waving it behind his head. Then from behind the high walls of the tower came several flaming fire balls ready to take out everything in their path.

Agil looked nervous, but then stopped as several dwarven artillery shots came flying in to take out the orc's.

"Agh! What the…!?" Kibaou yelled and noticed the central dwarves were still healthy and firing their cross fire. He then slammed his foot to the ground and chopped the air with his hand, and sent out a legion of arrows right for the heads of all the dwarves.

But the Sons of Durin were still not ready to fall to such measly trinkets. They had their own anti-artillery equipment ready for battle, and right then several javelin spears launched up with twirling blades on the end to chop up the arrows into nothing. The spears then slammed into the walls of Gundabad and stuck out like great big arrows, and just then a commander dwarf yelled to Agil.

"GRAB SOME ROPES BOY! YOU'RE GONNA NEED 'EM!"

Agil tilted his head, but then turned back down to find Lisbeth was now up and running towards the tower. He shot up after her, but had to dodge several bolts and arrows just to make it behind her. Then Lisbeth looked up to find the ends of the javelins dropped out cables, and she used all her energy to run to the lowest hanging one and tried reaching out to grab it.

Alone she would have been helpless, but Agil cam up behind her and picked her up with his shoulders, giving her enough height to reach the first one. Agil then gave her time, and then jumped up to grab the end with his own height to follow her up the cable. The other, shorter dwarves would have to wait, but in the end all hope remained in the hands of Agil and Lisbeth to end the battle, and to defeat the orc commanders at the top of the tower.

Lisbeth used all her strength in the climb to the next wall, but she was slowly losing energy. She tried to pop out some health potions, but they slowed her down and kept Agil from advancing behind her. The good news was they were below the railings of the orcs above, but they still had no plan on how to get inside.

Agil spotted a lower tower and began swinging the rope toward sin, and just then he released his grip and landed in the tower, killing its only guard and grabbing its shield.

"Okay Lis! Just follow me and…!" Agil tried to give her some encouragement, but just then Lisbeth flipped off the rope and landed right beside him, quickly healed with the help of an in-game item.

"Agh, well that hurt like hell, but I'm back!" Lisbeth's pep was also back in the battle to make Agil laugh and give her a fist bump. They then propped open the hatch and ladder for below and charged into the inner sanctum of the fort to try and find the top.

Eventually their battling and instinct led them up several flights of winding stairs, followed by more locked doors and hordes of guards. Lisbeth and Agil were both master fighters, but they were growing tired, and doubtful in their chances to secure a full victory.

They had now lost full sight from their army inside the tower, but strong hearts kept them running up the stairs, even though deep down they were also worried defeat was just as likely of an outcome. Lisbeth slammed her mace into an enemy guard, and Agil drove his battle ax into the final door to reveal a path up to the highest tower of Gundabad.

They both charged up the ramp to the top, but right away Lisbeth turned the corner and disappeared.

"LIS!" Agil ran right through the doors and turned the tower corner to find Lind had a crossbow to her head and his arms locked with her's. He also turned around to find Kibaou coming at him with a club and sword.

Agil rolled away and knocked the club form Kibaou's hand, but the fight still left him in shock once he saw Kibaou's face.

It was grey, or a lifeless shade of green. Kibaou looked like a zombie, or even more accurately an orc. His hair was in its usual place, but his shoulders looked more beast like, and his eyes turned black with rage.

Finally he spoke up. "Agh the dwarven leaders come to take back the Mountain. Can't have enough mountains can ya dwarves!?"

"Kibaou…what happened to you?" Agil said with a nervous voice as he kept his sword up, but his eyes focused on Lisbeth and Lind (who was also looking rather pasty around the cheeks.)

Kibaou laughed. "HA! What!? You can't tell I'm a dwarf too!? Man that Annatar guy must have lied to us!" He said sarcastically as he scraped his sword against the stone walls of the outer tower.

Agil looked confused, but then looked to Kibaou's right hand, and on it he found a silver ring with a red gem starring him back in the face.

"No way…" Agil turned to give Kibaou his full attention. "You had your ring on earlier than we did, didn't you?"

Kibaou started laughing like a fool, and then created more sparks form his sword against stone. "DID WE!? IS THAT THE RULE WE BROKE!? I WANNA KNOW! WHY THE HELL ARE WE STUCK LIKE THIS, AND YOU TWO LOOK NORMAL!?"

He pointed his sword at a now terrified Lisbeth who bit her lip and tried holding back a sentence. She looked worried, but there was no doubt she also had strength in her veins as well.

Agil sighed. "You guys fell for the trap, and now he took you in as his new commanders."

"I'm sorry hold up… _I_ fell for this? No no I agreed to fight for him. What I didn't agree to was becoming some fucking green monster with an even uglier army!" He then kicked out part of the wall and sent it falling off the side.

"But…" He turned with fire in his eyes. "Sauron promised me a dual with the Witch-King when this was all said and done. What'ya think, me vs Kirito?! I've heard he's gone totally nuts! He even stabbed that bitch from the Knights of the Blood Oath!"

"AGH SHUT UP!" Lisbeth clawed at Kibaou from her held position, but Lind held a one handed crossbow right at her temple with all his force.

Agil shook his head and looked at his battle ax. "Look, I know Kirito would eat you alive, and that monster he became might even be stronger than his regular form…but there ain't no way we're letting you fight him."

"Is that so?" Kibaou tilted his head and spun his orc scimitar around like a wheel. "Well what are you gonna do about it? _Agil?_ "

Agil raised an eyebrow and shut his eyes. He then tossed his battle ax, opened up his menu, and equipped the reward sword _Orcrist_ given to him from Klein to his right hand.

Then he looked Kibaou in the eyes. "I'm gonna end this. Right here, right now."

* * *

 **Well this is an interesting battle. Looks like we found those 2 missing players who had the last 2 of the 7 Dwarven Rings of Power.**

 **And they also happen to be Kibaou and Lind! So Lind is semi-Light Novel exclusive, but Kibaou was in both it and the anime. Both hate Kirito, and neither died inside of SAO that we as fans know of so they make for perfect recruits! So now we know what would have happened to the 5 "dwarves" had they joined the cause earlier (and maybe what might _still_ happen to them if Asuna loses the One Ring...?)**

 **Also I used some random websites and Tolkien readings to get the dwarven speech. IDK how accurate it is, but a lot of the terms you see are used in the _Hobbit_ films.**

 **Part 2 tomorrow I guess! Can Agil win, and what about Lisbeth? Can she rally the dwarves to total victory in the north?**


	28. 28: Rally for the Leader

**Author's Note: Part 2 in Gundabad! Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do now own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Twenty Eight

Rally to the Leader

 _"We are sons of Durin. And Durin's Folk do not flee from a fight."_

― Thorin, _The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies_

* * *

Agil twisted his blade in hand as Kibaou earned an even more maddening look in his eye. The crazed former leader of the Aincrad Liberation Force was ready for a one-on-one, but this was too good to be true because Agil was very close to Kirito back in the day.

"I'll be damned…" Kibaou said as he began licking his lips and walking in a circle. "This is the second best thing that could happen. 'Course I'll just kill you and then challenge that hack beater back in Mordor, but this will be a nice WARM UP!" He made no more hesitation and charged right in with his sharpened grey scimitar slicing forward.

Agil pivoted back with one foot and let him charge forward, but as he did he tried disarming Kibaou with a quick hack of his blade, _Orcrist._

Lisbeth tensed up in her situation, but continued to watch the scuffle as it began to unfold. Lind looked like he could care less, and Lisbeth thought she could break this part of him.

"Wow, you're just gonna let him have all the fun…I mean didn't Agil and Kirito piss you off in SAO too?"

"…" The mysterious Lind kept his mouth shut and held her arms in a twisted manor behind her back, while also keeping his crossbow pinned to her head.

Agil spun around and went on the offensive for a bit by hacking Kibaou with his goblin cleaver, but the mighty brute Uruk punched the sword back and went in for his own death hit.

Agil the blue dwarf stumbled back from the hit and nearly fell off the railing from the tower, but slid down a way to regain footing. He then looked to make sure Lisbeth was still safe. After that he used the split second before Kibaou's second charge to look down

At the army, and everything still looked the same right where they left it.

Now he had to duck, and dodge out of the way from Kibaou's hacking blade. The mad orc sliced thin air several times wishing just once that Agil's head was going to end up on the other side.

Agil wasn't about to give him any satisfaction and decided to try and play dirty by grabbing a torch from the railing. He then stepped forward and flashed it in Kibaou's face to try and warrant some fear, but the psycho orc commander grabbed the ball of flame at the end and took the torch from Agil's hand and tossed it to the side.

Lisbeth's mouth would have hit the floor if it were possible, and right there she knew these were the wrong guys to be messing with. She tried wiggling her arms free from Lind, but he had her in an even better vantage point now.

"So you like using crossbows?" Lisbeth said with a tease. "Funny, I don't get a lot of guys requesting those. I get a few bows from girls, but I basically tell anyone wanting a crossbow to take a hike. No room for trash in my blacksmith."

"They're going to die." Lind responded cold and lifeless. "Kirito, Agil, you probably will too. Their bodies will be kicked from the game, but their minds will be trapped forever."

"…" Lisbeth froze for a moment and blinked a few times. "Riiight…well nice talking to ya."

She had just about had it with this creep, and now she used her time to try and find her way out. There was little to offer in terms of weapons, and she being the idiot without experience stormed up here without grabbing her mace off the ground. So if she wanted to try using a weapon from her inventory, it was going to take a fair amount of time.

Agil on the other hand was now dealing with a fiery sword courtesy of Kibaou and his love for flame. He used Agil's idea from bringing the torch into play and decided to light his own weapon on fire to get in the merchant's head, and it was working.

Agil had to make extra care when placing his feet for battle, because one false move would have ended with not only a scratch, but fire to the wound as well. He stabbed forward to try and give himself distance, but now he was losing sight of Lind and Lisbeth with Kibaou trying to corner him.

Agil tried slashing a few times to created more space, but Kibaou had built up speed with his hands, and began hacking at the air like a lunatic to get Agil to fall.

And low and behold with a few slashes to the sword and his hands, followed by a few misses, Kibaou delivered a nasty hit to Agil's left arm, and sent him falling to the ground.

The orc ruler took pride in the shot and decided to grab another torch and hold it in front of the now wounded Agil. "Funny, you just tried lighting me one fire…now I wonder what it'll feel like if I try doing it to you."

Agil blinked a few times to collect the scene. He had lost sight of his allies, and now the entire game flashed before his eyes as if it were his last time to fight as well. He remembered Klein staring down the flaming Balrog in Moria, and decided it was probably something just like this.

Either way, he tried holding his hand up and kept _Orcrist_ high to defend, but Kibaou wasn't going to let it stop him from killing his enemy.

The orc commander was thirsty for blood, but just as he went to quench his parched throat, a war horn from the west sounded off in the left peak, and both leaders looked to find a new banner facing the rising horizon.

It was a bright blue banner with periwinkle hills, and they all sat under seven matching colored stars. They were the banners of the Blue Mountains, and just then Agil knew his faction had answered his call.

"No way…" Agil said with a little smile in his voice, completely ignoring his imminent death.

"Ghgh…screw that!" In a fell swoop, Kibaou lowered his arms and sent his torch right for Agil's head, but just then a powerful blow knocked Kibaou right in the back and sent him flying into the wall beside the fight.

Agil looked up to find Lisbeth standing there breathing heavily with fire in her eyes, and in her hand was a golden electrified Lightning Hammer _Mjölnir_ , the same hammer that Klein used to save her life in Moria.

Lisbeth still kept breathing hard, but she turned to Agil and smiled. "I wasn't gonna let you have all the fun."

Agil nodded, but jumped up to push Lisbeth out of the way in time to dodge a crossbow bolt and let it sail over the railing.

They both stood to not only find Kibaou back on his feet, but Lind was ready for battle too, and he even tossed his now disarmed crossbow and made room for his shiny but deadly _Pale Edge._

Lind stepped up and tilted his head in rage. "I have no fight with you Agil, and I don't have a fight with you either Blacksmith…but I will not let you all save that monster Kirito from the fate he deserves!"

"AH horse crap!" Lisbeth spat out in anger. "He doesn't deserve anything you two say. He's a better guy than both of you combined, and no crazy gaming company can ever turn him into something else!"

"HA!" Kibaou laughed at that. "You're a cutey you know that? Funny I was the one who sent all those orcs down to attack you and that bitch Asuna, but Annatar always got mad at me for it. If he would have just let me do it…if he would have just let me down from my station to kill you all there we'd never be here, and he never would have lost that Ring to her!"

"Oh geeze is that what this is about!?" Lisbeth yelled in anger wanting to throw her weapon. "This is ridiculous! God I can't wait to get the hell out of this nerdy ass game!"

Lisbeth had had enough, and apparently so did Kibaou. They both charged forward and ran right for each other in battle, and just then her mighty War hammer of the gods clashed together with his Morgul steel blade, creating a vibration of shock waves to ring throughout the tower walls.

Agil and Lind never let it phase them as they too attacked one another, and just he _Orcrist_ met the steel of _Pale_ _Edge_ , and one by one the clinking of steel rattled back and forth as the skirmish between enemies commenced.

Lind got cocky and charged forward with a stab, but right then Agil knocked him off his line by hitting his sword with another, and then Lisbeth broke her fight with Kibaou to give him a nice smack in the gut.

Meanwhile Agil hacked his blade over Lisbeth's head and went right for Kibaou, who had to quit targeting Lisbeth to defend himself from the blow.

They traded partners, and back and forth Agil and Lisbeth sided with perfect chemistry and finesse. The War Hammer and the Goblin Cleaver worked arm in arm to take out their foe, and rallied up an inevitable victory for the horizon.

Then, before the allies traded places one last time, Kibaou and Lind backed into one another and fell to the ground, worn out form exhaustion from the fight.

Agil and Lisbeth lowered their arms and looked at one another, and right then the larger Agil stepped forward to confront the losers.

Kibaou spat at Agil's boots and looked him in the eye. "You're a pussy Agil…you'll never have the guts to kill me, and that little toy maker there won't either."

Agil turned to look at Lind, but Kibaou kept talking.

"Sauron won. Why do you think he never sent a second force to defend Gundabad…he doesn't give a shit about any of this…he knows you all are coming for him…and he knows…he knows…"

"What? What does he know?" Agil turned back to a now laughing Kibaou, who refused to give them an answer.

Lisbeth stepped forward and grabbed Lind by the collar and looked into his silent eyes. "WHAT DOES HE KNOW?!"

Lind turned away from his lifeless stair and met his eyes with Lisebth's.

"He knows you're bringing back his Ring."

Then Kibaou leaned over and thrust his sword right into Lind's chest, killing him right there and ending his conversation with Lisbeth. The pink haired black smith let go of his cloths, and made room for Agil to send _Orcrist_ right through his heart to end his life as well.

Finally, they both sighed and turned to hear the chanting dwarves cheering on their own victory down in the valley. "YAY FOR THE HAMMER!" "THE IRON HAMMER AND THE BLUE SHIELD!"

Lisbeth giggled and punched Agil on the arm. "Hey they gave you a stupid name too."

Agil laughed and nodded. "Yea, it's got a nice ring to it I guess."

"Ah they're so dorky. I'm glad they're my faction." Lisbeth rolled her eyes and started walking towards the door. "Well! Let's take these winners back to Erebor. We got an army to build for Asuna!"

Agil nodded, but before he followed, he stayed to watch the two silver gem rings from Kibaou and Lind disappear into nothing, as if they vanished with the life of their masters.

Then, the Blue Mountain nodded and looked up to the black sky. He wasn't sure, but it almost looked like a horrible grey winged beast was flying over head, and on top of the monster sat a faceless black shadow looking down at him from afar.

Then, in the blink of an eye it was gone, and enough time passed for Agil to collect a shiver of fear and follow his friend Lisbeth down the hallway and onto their next mission.

* * *

As Gundabad fell to the host of the alliance, we now return to the golden illumination of Lothlórien to see what our Lady of the Forest is providing to our resident member of the Fellowship.

Leafa had quickly and effectively been able to handle her magic and new spells, but controlling their size and power was a whole other story. She also had a hard time leaving the bounds of her usual realm of Wind Magic, and now tried delving into other elements such as earth, water, and fire.

However this was starting to prove rather difficult for her, and even Sakuya had a har time showing any mastery herself.

"Leafa you need to ignore your connections to ALfheim for the time being." Sakuya tried explaining this as they both stood in a dark glowing grove in the middle of the night time Lórien. "Yes that is the strength of your wind magic, but if you wish to use other elements you'll need to try and channel strength from somewhere else."

"Agh…" Leafa was struggling with her current target of an old mallorn stump, and she stopped to reply. "I don't even know where to begin with that. What strength have I gathered other than magic and sword skills from ALO?!"

Leafa had enough with the stump and pulled out her elven sword, and after sinking it deep within the top of the wood she plucked it from the stump and sighed. "I just feel like its all coming out of nowhere…like I just make up the spells sometimes and the magic happens as a result."

Sakuya smiled, and then reached up to grab a falling mallorn leaf. "Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power that comes from nothing Leafa. Magic is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us, and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization."

She then removed her hand and continued to let the leaf fall from gravity. "To perform magic one must have a strong mind, and the ability to focus. In some cases it should be allowed to take over your being and come pouring out of your soul. In the case of natural magic, it also comes from our emotions, the feelings from our mind and from our hearts."

Sakuya then held up a hand and sent a tiny vortex swirling up from her palm. "Air magic for example. It represents intellect, mental intention, and connection to universal life force. You mastered it in ALO, and this intelligence earned from Air mastery will allow you to control the others as well."

Sakuya then looked down to the ground, which was a mixture of dirt and running water. "Earth represents grounding, foundation of life, substance, and family roots. Water represents emotional release, intuition, and inner reflection, and it also reflects peace and tranquility. Patience is required to control the forces of water."

Finally she snapped her finger and sent a tiny flicker of an ember from her thumb. "Fire is the one you struggle with the most. It represents raw energy, a tool for transformation, connection to personal power, and inner strength. It also comes from rage, and passion. Using this element may not be the wisest decision every time, but when used right it will be your greatest ally."

Leafa thought about all those words and looked back down to the ground. She then took a deep breath and began to focus.

Holding out two hands in front of her, Leafa paused for a moment and channeled all her energy and center of balance into the balls of her feet. She then began chanting her ruined incantation. Afterwords, her magical signal took the form of two high-speed, flying lights that arced to the target location in front of her on the ground.

After making contact with the ground, a brief humming sound came out of nowhere, followed by a large rock wall that rose up out of her targeted spot.

Leafa recognized this as an Earth Wall spell form ALO and smiled as she turned to look at Sakuya. Her mentor gave her a supportive nod, and then turned to a trickling force of water coming off the side of the grotto.

Leafa stopped smiling and nodded back. She then turned a deep breath and re-channeled her focus. Now it was in her breath. She tried calming her mind, her heart, and her lungs. Everything inside her body was meant to be still, and as soon as she achieved her goal, her hands rose up to meet the water.

Most attack-based spells from water that Leafa knew of were actually ice spells. Despite that her mind took a calm state, and then began manipulating the stream of water and turned it towards the rock wall.

In the beginning it only sloshed up against the base, but after expelling all the air from her lungs and recapturing more with a calm state of mind, Leafa surged more water from the cliff and eventually brought a column big enough to knock a hole in the wall.

Sakuya laughed and smiled as she displaced the splash back, and then gave Leafa another smile. Finally she turned back to the stump Leafa had been fighting with since the beginning.

Leafa once again collected her thoughts and brought her focus to a new location. This one was now placed on her mind. She tried looking back on all their adventures since entering MEO, and for a brief second her time with Asuna, Lisbeth, and the others made her laugh.

Then she remembered the confrontation with Annatar at Dol Guldur, and she remembered seeing Kirito newly depicted as a Nazgûl. That made her sad, and turned her memory back to the focus of Annatar.

He hurt her friends, he made Kirito stab Asuna, he broke her own heart and all the others, and eventually he was going to meet his end.

Leafa let out a loud roaring yell before sending out a fire ball from her palms and lit the stump on fire in a small blaze of glory.

Sakuya's eyes lit up from the flames with hope and bewilderment, and then lost their glaze as Leafa used a current of air magic to put out the fire with force.

Finally Sakuya turned to Leafa with wide open eyes. "Well…it certainly seems like you understand each element now. That was brilliant work, Leafa."

The blonde student smiled back and gave her a quick bow. "Sakuya, I can't even begin to thank you for helping me out, and for helping out our team as well!"

The resident of Lothlórien gave Leafa a humble nod. "I am your friend, Leafa. I have no reason not to help you. Besides Alicia wouldn't like it if we didn't stick our business in the fight like everyone else."

She then began fanning herself with a large leaf from the trees above. "And it _would_ be a shame to lose such a handsome ALO player like Kirito for some stupid cause."

Leafa still smiled but rolled her eyes. "Yea I figured that's why you were helping…anyway I really can't begin to thank you! Now with this help I might be able to join back up with my…"

Sakuya was listening, but just then Alicia came running down the stone steps into the grotto with a frantic look on her face and a letter in her hand. "Sakuya! You have a letter! It's marked urgent too!"

Sakuya turned around with one eyebrow raised, and she looked very intrigued to read this urgent message from afar. Without hesitation she swiped open the virtual envelope and began reading her private message.

 _"_ _We will need you in the Battle for Rohan much sooner than expected. Send what men you can down to the West Fold and aid their calls for help to defeat Isengard."_

 _-Chrysheight_

Sakuya never spoke aloud as she read, and while her eyes followed her small note Leafa and Alicia nervously watched her decipher it.

Finally she folded the piece of paper up and stuffed it down the front of her blouse. "Urgent news from the war. There will apparently be a battle in Rohan, and Sigurd plans to move out of Isengard and into the east."

"Sigurd!?" Leafa stumbled back after hearing that name. "B-But he's in the north with other elves."

Alicia shook her head. "No, he used to be though. He got mad and took up a new faction down in Isengard. He also changed his class. He's a Maia now…and a really strong one too."

Sakuya nodded. "He also commands a very impressive host, one that Rohan has no hope of defeating alone. In that case we'll need to move what forces we have down immediately to help them."

Leafa tuned in the moment she realized she would get the chance to face off vs Sigurd, however she also remembered there's probably another one of her friends who would like a shot at him as well. "Hold on, how many man do we need, and how soon do we need them?"

Sakuya paused and turned to Leafa. "I'm not sure, but I would assume as many as we can get in as little time as possible."

"Great." Leafa confirmed to herself and stepped up closer to Sakuya and Alicia. "I'll go with you, but I'm not going down to Rohan just yet…I have to make a stop in Fanghorn Forest."

* * *

 **Well damn Sakuya seemed to be channeling her inner Makarov Dreyar for that magic motivation speech (I took a good chunk of that bit from the second dubbed episode of _Fairy Tail_ lol. Don't blame me! It fit pretty well!) **

**Lisbeth and Agil won! And Leafa seems to be a more confident mage! New chapter tomorrow, but where will we go and who will we follow?**

 **Cmment and Review!**


	29. 29: Fallout in Edoras

**Author's Note: Numba 29! Wow we are really cranking these things out...anyway here's the new one! Enjoy! (BTW if anyone is keeping tally I think _Saruman_ might be winning the quote contest with the intro/chapter quotes I've been using. I'll make a full tally when it's all said and done, but that man Christopher Lee...such a damned good actor. RIP.)**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._ **

* * *

Chapter Twenty Nine

Fallout in Edoras

 _"It will begin in Rohan. Too long have these peasants stood against you, but no more...Rohan, my lord, is ready to fall."_

― Saruman, _The Two Towers_

* * *

Silica was starting to experience a head ache. There was no King of Rohan in this game, and that only left the mass armies and regions of NPCs to govern themselves through war councils and conjoined meetings.

However Silica was not faring well during these meetings. She could barely keep her mind focused, and all the stress with losing some of the support she needed a crossed the Riddermark did not make up for any of the support she gained. The realm was divided, and Silica was barely coping with the idea that these NPCs had their own integrated relationships that needed to be handled delicately.

Either way, she had just about had it with this kingdom being on the brink of falling apart. "Anyway, the Westfold place isn't looking so great, guys…what have we heard from the other towns?" She still had to learn the dialect of a military leader, but for now her advisers settled with her.

One Marshal laughed. "Well the Wold spreads news of our disaster all throughout the north, so that's a speck of good news. No word yet from the Eastemnet or other settlements along the Great River, but for now we can only hope to receive aid from the north."

Another man leaned in as well. "Yes, we hope that word reaches the elves in Lothlórien. We could use an alliance like that of the old days, but we cannot hope for anything meaningful. They do likely have their own issues to tend to."

A third stood up with a small bit of rage. "Ta hell with that! Their world needs them! This is not just for the Realms of Rohan or Men, this is for the entire world! The enemy breeds his armies in Mordor, and the rivals to the west continue to burn our villages and recruit soldiers for their army as well!"

That comment was met with mostly praise, but some arguments continued. Silica slammed her head down on the table which barely made any noise, and she waited until she earned free time to speak.

"Well how many men do we have right now? Surely there's enough in the cavalry group to do something."

One marshal with a stack of papers sprawled out in front of him began thumbing through the notes, and then gave her an estimate. "Currently the capital has roughly 300 standard soldiers and about 100 able bodied Rohan citizens who could stand and fight if needed to. We also hold roughly 500 cavalry men with healthy horses in the nearby area, but we will need them to disperse and collect more for their cause."

Silica shuttered for a moment. "T-That doesn't sound like a whole lot…man Asuna will need more than that…at least more horses!"

One of the original marshals shook his head. "With all do respect your friends down in Gondor will have to wait for help, or they may send us their own aid and speed things up. For now we have a western front to defeat, and they will not be easy."

"Yea I forgot about that…" Silica remembered that creepy tower on her way past the Fords of Isen. "Do we know what they have in the tower?"

Her old marshal friend sighed and grabbed a mug of ale from the table. "We know nothing…but there is word that Rosalia road that way after her departure from Rohan."

"mgh…" Silica sank in her seat. "Figures. Well I guess we have to make a move. Is Edoras any good at battles?"

The men paused for a moment while they tried to decipher her dialect, and then one man spoke up. "Do you refer to Edoras as a city or its people? Their will is strong, but we cannot fight a battle here. At least nothing at the caliber we're expecting."

"Yea that's what I meant…um, well do we attack them in Isegard or meet them in open battle?"

"Neither." Her friend slammed his mug down on the table. "We will take our men to Helm's Deep. The Hornburg Fortress is the greatest stronghold in all of Rohan, and it sits at the gate of our western borders. If Isengard wishes to march into Rohan, they will have to pass us there first."

"Oh really?!" Silica sat up from her seat with a little excitement in her voice. "Well that sounds a lot better. Maybe we do have a chance here!"

Then a horn sounded from outside and alerted all the men and Silica at the table inside Meduseld, and without hesitation they all ran outside to look a crossed the city. When they emerged all their jaws were agape to find a column of black smoke coming from the main gate, and several screams were coming from the lower edges of the village.

"Come on!" Silica ran as fast as she could. "We have to see what's up!"

Her marshals followed her down hill, and in a quick instant Silica and the leaders of Edoras were all standing at the wide open gate that was now engulfed in flames.

"Sirs! We've contained the fire to just the doorway, but we don't know what caused it!"

All of the marshals looked around in confusion, and Silica looked worried that they couldn't find a cause. Then, however, her keen senses started to kick in and right away she looked sharp at the edges of the road coming in.

"Look at the watch towers." Silica gave instruction to all her marshals to look about the town and see what the watch towers were doing, and just to her suggestion they were all looking around and shooting down at something running around the base of the city's wall.

Silica measured their attention and then ran outside the flaming gate and turned to the left side of the road. She sat in silence with shouts coming from her party until she saw the cause of the arson.

A single warg rider who held a bow and arrow road around the north end of the wall with a torch-looking object dangling off the front of his mount. He appeared to be using it to light his arrow tips, but was only saving his shots for the gate.

Silica sighed, took a deep breath, and delivered a perfect baseball pitch with a dagger right in the heart of the orc rider, and as he fell off his warg, she stepped out of the way and let her charging marshals kill the beast.

"How did you know what it was, Milady?" One man asked with confusion.

Silica shrugged. "I dunno, I remember those nasty things chasing us from Isengard. I figured if you couldn't see it from the gate it was probably running away…"

Then they all fell silent as the horizon came into view over the hills, only this view was not just the rolling grass plains, but instead was dotted with dozens of warg riders heading right for Edoras.

"SIRS! THE GATE IS JAMMED! WE CAN'T SHUT IT!"

"Oh that makes too much sense…" Silica admitted, and just like that her men were ready for battle. They all ignored the crying of the guardsman and rallied the local mounts for a charge, and one of them even brought Silica a horse.

"Here, this was the same one you road in on. She's refused to take another rider ever since." He handed her the reins of a white but slight blue racing mare, which left Silica lost for a moment.

"Uh…really?" She took the ropes and gave the horse a half smile "So you want to ride with me again?"

The horse never gave her a verbal response, but it did lower its back to give her enough space to jump up. Silica smiled and mounted her ride, and then took the sword strapped on its saddle.

"Okay…I'm gonna name you Pina…I hope you don't mind!" Silica had never forgotten her lovable best friend from the other virtual worlds, and as compensation she decided to name her fateful horse after her favorite dragon.

The new Pina gave a tip of her head and road off the moment Silica was mounted, and just then it followed the other Rohirrim down the road and into the hillside battle between the frontmen of Edoras and the supposed scouts from Isengard.

Silica looked ahead before the cavalry clash began and noticed a few of the Uruk riders held all black banners with pale green hands slapped in the center. She had no idea what any of that meant and took it as the enemy's sigil on her march in with her allies. They came bearing the green and gold banners of Rohan, and although the wargs of the enemy seemed fierce, the horses of the Riddermark were as well.

The clash began, and right then riders from both factions rammed into each other. The hyena styled wolves were giant, intelligent, and malevolent, but they were also seen to be extremely fast, powerful, and most of all vicious. Most were the color of light brown, but a rare black warg was seated beneath a commanding officer of the Uruk every once in a while.

Silica liked nothing about these vicious creatures, and every time she tried clashing with an enemy on the battle field she turned just at the last second to protect herself and Pina from the fangs of the evil wolves. Several decided to chase her, after denoting her to be one of the weaker members of the horse pack, and this forced her to take a turn and slay some in response.

One warg was getting too far away from her, and as a result she chased it a good way around several large boulders. Then when she finally decided she had one cornered against a rock cliff, Silica was left in shock and fear as it used its curved claws and paws to climb the face of the cliff, and turn to lunge off the rock and counter attack its pursuer.

Silica quickly brought her sword up to attack it's snout, and this tactic seemed to be a good strategy to keep it from biting Pina. The only problem was it always left her open for the riding Uruk to slice her head off in response, to which she would have to use her open hand and shield to block.

Luckily Pina liked her rider, and was comfortable riding on auto-pilot for a brief moment each battle. Silica was fairing well, but she had now gotten too far away from the battle. She had no idea how many were left over the hill, but she did know three new warg riders were quickly chasing her tail.

Then Pina hurtled a semi-large boulder to try and return to the main battle, but the Uruk riders were quickly pursuing her form behind. They weaved and steered around the exposed rock of Rohan quick enough to stay on her tail, and occasionally one would send a nice arrow whizzing over her head in an attempt to shoot her off.

Silica could now see the remaining skirmish and realized her Rohirrim were gaining the upper hand. Only half the wargs remained, and the cowardly orcs looked ready for a retreat any second now. Sadly however she was still a few spaces away from safety, and no one was able to warn her of the arrow that shot out from the enemy's bow and landed right in the back of her leg.

"AGH NO!" Silica yelled, pulling up on her favored side of the horse rein, which steered Pina into an un-favored direction that had her cut off near the orcs.

The lead Uruk sliced at Pina's neck with his scimitar, but Silica tossed her shield out to block the attack. She then tried spinning her horse around to get her sword hand on the fighting side, but just then a warg cam in low and bit Pina in the back leg as well.

The horse went down and took a tumble down a low lying hill, and her rider Silica was thrown from the saddle and rolled down even faster.

She stood with a limp in her right leg but didn't care as the three wargs road in for the kill. Her last mission was to protect the fallen horse Pina, and between her short Rohirric sword and her _Ebon dagger_ she was going to achieve that goal.

Then a maroon spear soared over the hill and pierced the front Uruk's skull and stapled it right into the skull of his warg, and the other two turned only to find a wall of arrows flying right at them. They quickly fell from the attack, and this let Silica take a breather and fall to the ground.

"Miss Silica are you alright!" They yelled from their horses. "Quickly we need a medic! Lady Silica has…!"

"Agh…n-no I'm alright…" Silica used all her strength to calm her men down, but then saved some to crawl over to her now badly bloody horse. "Pina…Pina needs healing."

"Pina?" The Rohan warrior who handed her the horse looked down to the white/blue horse and tilted his head. He then saw Silica pull out a healing potion and without a second thought she broke it over the horse's broken leg.

Then low and behold the horse's blood was gone, the wound was healed, and the horse was back on all four of its legs. The Rohan riders were stunned, and the one who jumped off to help Silica was at a loss for words.

"M-Milady…d-did you give your only healing item to help your horse?"

"Wha…?" Silica said with slight pain as she received medical attention from her guard. "Yea I did…Pina's my friend, and she needed my help."

"Milady, you had a leg injury too…were you not concerned?"

"Well I mean…I can get my own medication, but Pina can't. So I needed to help her."

The group of Rohirric warriors stood in silence as a few more road over to witness the bizarre sight. Then they all jumped off their horses in unison and landed on the grassy ground below.

Without hesitation all the local knights of Rohan drew their swords and stuck the points in the ground. Then they rested their foreheads on the tips on the handles and lowered their egos in honor of Silica. The center man then spoke aloud.

"Lady Silica, you are truly the Master Horselord of Rohan. We will follow you wherever the battle takes you…and we will aid your fight in Gondor when the time comes."

Silica blinked a few times to collect the overwhelimg support form her friends. She then delivered a trademark smile and laughed. "Okay, but only after I help you guys out with your own war!"

The center knight smiled and stood from his position. He then sheathed his sword and turned to the others. "Send word to the rest of the Riders. We will call for all swords of Rohan to help the army of the true Horselord Silica, and together we will defend Rohan at Helm's Deep."

* * *

 _~Meanwhile, in the Valley of the Enemy_

For most of its history the lands of Isengard were green and a river ran from the mountains to form a bright lake. However after the treason of Sigurd against all the forces of Middle-Earth things that grew within the ringed wall were removed. All about the plain great shafts had been dug deep and many stone-flags paved the roads of the surface.

This fortress now acted as the base of operations for Sigurd against the Rohirrim and his other enemies, and during his rule he defiled the valley, cutting down its trees and grass and replacing them with stone and machinery. He also dammed and diverted the Angren, possibly for use as hydro-power. Isengard's valley was honeycombed with deep pits, used for breeding Uruk-hai and housing orcs from the Misty Mountains, hill-men of Dunland and wolves and smithing weapons.

All of this was at the Green Wizard's disposal, and with his rising army coming up from the pits of hell themselves, no force stood in his way. At least, ideologically.

"The power of Isengard is at your command, Sauron, Lord of the Middle-Earth."

Sigurd the proud wizard of the vale knelt on one knee to the foot of his central pedestal, and at its top was a great black stone of a spherical circumference with mists of grey smoke, and a flicker of orange in the heart of the marble glass.

It was known as a _Palantír_ in this game. Palantíri were spherical stone objects used for the purpose of communication in Middle-earth and beyond. In the game they were specifically useful because the Dark Lord and GM of MEO had shut down the player communication chat, and these stones were the fastest ways of relaying messages a crossed the wide realms of the virtual world.

This stone however had a twin, and it was located in the heart of Mordor, along side the Dark Lord Sauron himself in the central stronghold of Barad-Dûr. Sauron had not said a word since his abdication of the name "Annatar", and even in this secret meeting with Sigurd his voice still remained silent, and his face unseen.

As the one-sided conversation came to an end Sigurd stood from the floor and threw the silk cloth back over his seeing stone, and just then two clapping hands made a sound of amusement from the back hallway.

"Wow. That was some of the best acting I've seen in a long time, and that's how _I_ earned a living in SAO."

Sigurd turned to greet Rosalia coming out of the hallway, and right away he wasn't impressed with her entrance. "You disapprove of my conference with the GM?"

Rosalia snickered. "I mean you can only hold it up for a small amount of time. You're lucky that elf girl stopped your attack in Emyn Muil, otherwise Sauron was going to blame you for that as well."

"…" Sigurd grabbed his staff leaned up against the wall and rolled his eyes. "I will play my part as his side arm until Rohan has fallen. I will then collect what resources I can and march for the north. Those fools in Gondor will give me enough time to take out the dwarves, and then he'll start sending his Ringwaiths. One by one I'll kill them all and steal their Rings of Power, and eventually his weapons will be reduced to nothing."

"Right." Rosalia grinned. "But first you have to take out Rohan First."

Sigurd once again did not waste one thought or word. "The old world will burn in the fires of industry. Forests will fall. A new order will rise…We will drive our forces of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fist of this keep. My armies will make this world burn, and we will move it to ALfheim, where I will reign as its King."

He then pulled up a map and looked to the eastern kingdom of the Riddermark. "However, we have only to remove those who oppose us. Once they are gone my plans will begin to set, and we will take our places."

Rosalia laughed again. "Even if you could somehow make that Sauron kid believe you, you don't have the current strength to take out Rohan. They're cavalry is too strong…plus I know where they'll be going."

"Helm's Deep." He replied. "They plan to stop me in the Hornburg, just like the Wizard's army in the films."

"Right…and do you know the one weakness that pile of garbage has?" Rosalia said with a tap on her head.

Sigurd turned to greet her. "Do you?"

Rosalia shrugged. "I had a few bad dates in my time. Gamer girls pick up some sad little losers. A few tried making watch those nerdy movies, but I did manage to remember some useful stuff. Like how mounted knights are always better than foot soldiers…and how there's a single drain at the foot of the wall, fit to blow up with the right amount of leverage."

Sigurd scratched his head. "Well that is interesting…that will be my way to strike, and you will lead my army."

"Y-Your army?" Rosalia was finally lost. "Hold on it took like 10,000 guys in the movies to win that battle."

"Precisely. Which is why I made sure to gather more. If the wall is breached, Helm's Deep will fall, and when it does we will need 15,000 Uruk-hai warriors to kill every last enemy…including any members of the Fellowship who chose to stand in my way."

"Silica…" Rosalia narrowed her vision. "Well, do you have this army just lying around?"

Sigurd looked her in the eyes and proceeded to walk to the nearest balcony. "Don't worry…I've studied the series."

Then after emerging from his cave-like hallway with Rosalia, the Tower of Orthanc now gave Sigurd a great view of his master army of 15,000 thousand Uruk-hai warriors, each ready to kill everything in their path.

Sigurd gave Rosalia a wink and began reciting one of his favorite lines from the films. "A new power is rising. Its victory is at hand. This night the land will be stained with the blood of Rohan, and of the Fellowship. March to Helm's Deep. Leave none alive. To war!"

The Uruk soldiers slammed their pikes into the ground and roared at the top of their nasty lungs. Rosalia watched with shock and a little fear as torch fire and black armor took up the entire plain of Isengard, and then at that moment Sigurd turned and stuffed a rolled up map in Rosalia's arms.

"Now, get down there, and lead my army to victory."

* * *

 **Well Sigurd has turned into quite the foe, fit to rule any crazy wizard tower! Rosalia seems to be his main squeeze...or she's just this story's version of Grima Wormtongue, you can decided which it is lol. This section is fun because I love Rohan, and I know everyone loves the Two Towers!**

 **More tomorrow! (Also I guess I lied. I looked back, and Saruman only has 3 chapter/title quotes so far. The good man Tolkien himself is winning with 7. Though to be fair I only put Tolkien in when I can't find which character actually said it...Gandalf is second with 6 and Saruman is still in the top 3 with 3!)**


	30. 30: An Hour for Rohan

**Author's Note: Hello! Number 30 already! Here it is.**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Thirty

An Hour for Rohan

 _"What will you have me do? Look at my men. Their courage hangs by a thread. If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end, as to be worthy of remembrance."_

― Theoden, _The Two Towers_

* * *

Silica and her men had been riding for a very long time now. They had roughly 300 soldiers and 100 random other NPCs that could be converted into troops with the help of an emergency quest. They also had 500 Rohirric cavalry men, but these horse lords were already scattered about the rest of the Mark in search of more troops for their cause. Silica let them leave with enough confidence in this "Helm's Deep" that she believed they could last a night without them.

Either way she was worried. The current host marching towards the western Hornburg was not impressive, and they were hardly fit for fighting. Sigurd's forces form Isengard had to be 10x their strength by now, at least that's what her scouts kept telling her. The enemy also had scouts as well, and every once in a while she or some other marshal would have to shoot a long ranged warg rider dead with a clean shot, or risk the transfer of delicate information.

In any case she was growing tired and nervous as the day carried on. "So how big is this place anyway? Will it be able to hold everyone? She said with slight sarcasm.

Her friendly fellow Rohirrim road up and gave her a smile. "It will hold us all. The Deeping Wall of the Hornburg is a good height and length, no army has every breached it. The stronghold is also massive in size, and will house all the troops we have and need for the war to come."

Another road up beside them with a frown. "But it isn't the fort's size that concerns me…its whether or not we have the right men."

The first rider rolled his eyes. "With all do respect I understand our host does not command a large amount of horses, but we will gain our cavalry soon."

The second scoffed. "Bah! We can't stuff an army of riders behind that wall, they'd be useless! Arrowmen, archers! We need long-ranged sharpshooters, not some cavalcade of prancing horses with useless knights galloping atop them like an unwanted mascot."

The lead rider slowed his roll. "Agh…our archers are proficient enough to last the night. Then our fellow host will right in and clear out the remaining orcs with a fell swoop."

The second rider turned to look him in the eye before he road off for the van. "If that's true, then we better stuff a few extra arrows in their quivers."

Silica waited for the angrier rider to leave before chiming in. "Will we have enough archers? It sounds like that is a good idea to have for a battle like this."

Her friend sighed. "I hope we do…to be honest this is all we could muster, and if they do not meet our demands…well I suppose beggars cannot be choosers!" He tried to find the end of the road for the conversation, which worked to his advantage as they came over the hill to find a sea of lying corpse. Dead orcs and wargs slaughtered in the night by some barrage of arrows and steel, with every death looking clean and clear.

"B-But what happened…?" Silica asked with a dramatic pause as the words were lost in the air before her face. The riders even looked clueless, and the stench of dead orc wasn't helping their brains collect thoughts.

Then, a voice chimed over the far hills like a wish from heaven. "Hey! Silica! We cleared them out for ya!"

The tiny Rohan rider turned due north to find herself smiling with delight as Sinon and a troop of hundreds of elves road over the fields and into their vicinity. They held banners from the Woodland Realm, a dark tree on a field of forest green.

Silica's cheeks lit up like her red eyes with hope and brilliance. "Wow Sinon! When did you get here!?"

Her elf friend laughed and road up to her side. "We came in from the west. We were going for Gondor but got ambushed by that ass Sigurd on the river. I found Chrysheight and he told me to ride here instead, said you could use our help."

"Boy could we!" She smiled and nodded at her now equally happy guard. "How many guys do you have?"

"Around a thousand." Sinon boasted. "They're pretty good too…I might go up for more if Asuna needs me to…"

"WOW!" Silica said with bright eyes. "We can actually win now!"

The Rohan guard stepped in. "More importantly what fighting classes do you host? Are they all swordsmen or more?"

Sinon now had to split her answer for a group of people. "W-Well I mean they all have swords and bows, and they're really good…we fought two orc armies at the same time in the river and I don't even think we lost one guy."

Silica then turned to her friends. "Oh this is Sinon by the way, she's my friend from home! She's also the best archer ever!"

All the Rohan riders opened their ears wider that that truth, because they were just discussing their need for such talents. "Is that so…well it may be hard, but I do believe we will try our best to squeeze 1000 troops into Helm's Deep by Night fall."

Sinon gave them a slight nod but turned to them with low eyes. "Sure, but I'll need to be clear about something…we sent a scout out to look at their armies."

"And?" Silica said. "How big is it?"

Sinon couldn't make herself complete the sentence, and her eyes said it all as the Rohirric riders caught some ill message from her silence.

"Men make haste for the Deep! We must barricade the gates before the sun sets, or our blood will stain this land for years to come."

* * *

From their march out of the already bloody fields they ade way for the west, and once the sopes of the White Mountains re-appeared in their vision they came a crossed the low hanging fortess at the heart of a valley.

The valley was blocked over its entire width by the trench and rampart called Helm's Dike, and behind that lay the fortress in the Glittering Caves, which extended to the Deeping Wall built across the entrance to the caves and consisted of solid rock except for a small culvert which allowed water from the Deeping-stream (coming out from the Deep) to pass; this rendered a fresh supply in sieges of great length.

A long causeway wound up to the great gate of the fortress itself, known as the Hornburg of Helm Hammerhand (hence the region's title "Helm's Deep.") Inside the keep there were stables and an armory, as well as a great hall in the rear which was dug out of the mountainside.

However the most impressive sector of the fortress lied with the Deeping Wall. It was the solid stone barrier, some twenty feet in height and thick enough that four men could walk abreast along the top that defended the refuges of the Rohirrim at Helm's Deep. It lay beneath the castle of the Hornburg, to which it was connected by a flight of steps, and a plain of empty slopes and the stream runoff sat behind it to give it breath from the mountains and caves behind.

Silic and Sinon were both at awe by the ancient looking castle carved into the mountain. If you would have turned a few yards west there was a good chance you would have never seen it buried back in the valley way, but it was here that they made their march for the night to come.

Then, after settling their soldiers in both the wall and stronghold, the leaders met in the back throne room for a true war council, where Sinon decided to expand upon her known scouting knowledge.

"15,000. That's what we were told."

Silence filled the room as one Rohan marshal sat down with eyes of horror. "15,000…did he empty his entire pits of hell to flood our lands with death?"

Sinon continued. "They looked pretty fierce too…my guess is there's really only one reason he made it."

"To defeat us." Silica said with sorrow.

Sinon corrected her. "Not even. He would only need 5, maybe 10,000 for that…he brings 15,000 in hopes to scare us out of existence. He wants that host to march either north or south."

"He means to count us out?" One Rohirrim spat on the ground. "Folly. He's a fool. That magic he practices in that sorcerer's tower is going to his head."

Sinon shrugged. "As far as he's concerned we're nothing. Hell even the north holds nothing now except for a few dwarves. He's gonna ignore them too if he can, and probably march down to Mordor. That's why I found his army already there at the Great River."

Silica nodded. "Yea that makes sense…wow 15,000…will we have enough?"

The Rohan knight to her left shrugged. "This fortress has never been breached in our life time, and the Deeping Wall is over 20 feet high and made of solid rock. No siege equipment of this age can break it."

Sinon bobbed her bead back and forth. "Eh yea they really didn't have that many artillery weapons…you might be on to something."

Silica shook her head a few times and pulled up a map, and quickly narrowed down to the valley of Helm's Deep. "So we've got 400 of our guys…plus 1000 elves that can help at the wall…they won't be able to squeeze 15,000 people in the valley! That's ridiculous!"

The Rohan man to her right raised an eyebrow. "True words. I'm even surprised we managed to get our men to fit behind the wall. This will certainly be an interesting fight."

"Yep." Sinon turned form the table and walked for the door. "We'll hold out until your allies come, and who knows, maybe we'll be halfway to Gondor tomorrow."

"Yea…" Silica smiled. "And we'll be able to find Asuna and the others…" She then realized the meeting was ending and quickly ran up to meet with Sinon. "Hey! So how's your game been so far?"

Sinon stopped as she walked outside, and then quickly turned to the right to head down steps. "U-Um…right. Well after I lost you guys I got captured in that tower."

"Oh yea…hey that's right you left us all scared to death!" Silica slapped her on the arm and caused Sinon to jump.

"What?! I had to help you guys get out…anyway I used some trick item from Sigurd to get out and I wound up back in the Lonely Mountain."

"Oh where Lis and the others are staying?!"

"Yea…Lis and Agil say hi." She made no reference of Klein not being there. "Anyway then Lisbeth gave me that sword for Asuna, and I found my army and sailed down the river. Then I get down to these mountains and all of a sudden we're being ambushed on both sides by Isengard and Mordor."

Silica tried keeping up and held hand sup to her mouth. "Wow that's terrible! I take it you made it out okay?"

Sinon stopped walking finally and turned to look down at the rock. "I…I found someone from an old game there…"

Silica stopped too and looked nervous for the reveal as Sinon took a deep breath and explained. "It was Death Gun. His avatar was in the game, and it was leading the Mordor army."

"No…" Silica's eyes widened as large as they could. "But those guys are in jail…"

"Right." Sinon explained. "But it wasn't them who was in control of his avatar…that Sauron kid was using revival skills to bring the avatar data into MEO, and he used it to get in my head. Chrysheight said it's his form of death magic."

"The _Necromancer_ …" Silica remembered. "That's really creepy…are you alright?"

"Yea." Sinon sighed and cleared her lungs. "It was rough, but he wasn't hard to beat. Anyway that's when I turned course for you. There were orcs all over Rohan, you're actually lucky I came in!"

She began smiling and lightly slapped Silica on the arm. The little horse rider smiled back and shrugged. "Sorry I was too busy leading my new army in the capital! …Oh who am I kidding, your's is way better than mine."

Sinon shrugged and looked around to notice only the Rohan warriors knew what to do and how to prepare for a fight in Helm's elves were just standing around chatting.

"I dunno, seems like your guys are pretty reliable to me."

They both started smiling, and began laughing at the same time for old time's sake. Then they turned back to the armory and began their own preparations for the battle at the setting sun.

* * *

Night was quickly gathering, and the last beams of western light were folding over the mountain tops into the darkness of the moon. The armies atop Helm's Deep's walls were lighting torches, stashing spears, arrows, and rocks, and all the gates and broad wood doors were quickly being sealed and locked to prevent anything from breaking in.

Silica and Sinon were standing on the other side of the front gate, the inner wall below the high ramparts. They looked at the locked walled door with anxiety and without thought for battle. They looked tired but somehow ready to give it their all.

Silica spoke with tiny words. "Are ya ready? It'll be a tough one."

"Tough?" Sinon grinned. "This is gonna be terrible. We usually have the whole team for something like this, but now it's just two of us…"

Silica nodded, but shrugged at the same time. "Yea, but I bet Lisbeth, Agil, and Klein thought the same thing when they left for the north. I bet Ausna and Chrysheight did too when they left for the south, and I know we were all thinking it before we split up."

Sinon understood what she was getting at and smiled. "Right…yea good point. We'll be fine."

Then gave each other a quick fist bump, until a great horn sounded over the valley field on the other side of the keep. Silica grabbed her dagger, and Sinon reached for an arrow. Men scurried about the fortress wall until a scout from up top listened closer.

"Hold arms! This is no enemy!"

Silica and Sinon looked at each other, and as Silica pulled up her local map she realized figures could actually be seen (but only when they are in close proximity to the player.) She also noticed there were not 15,000 of them, but more like 500.

This left her confused, until another commander shouted for the gate to be opened. The two girls still looked nervously as they drew arms for pre-cautions, but the soldiers passed by them and removed the beams from locks to open the wide doors of Helm's Deep.

Then they both saw two great blue and cream yellow banners floating like silk sails on the ends of white pikes. Two blue-cloaked elven soldiers carried them in, and then marched an army of 500 or so elves up the ramp and into the keep.

Silica was lost, and even more so because Sinon was too, and the fact that she didn't recognize these elves troubled her. Finally as the impressive troop entered the entire fortress, two commander stepped up from the backs with grinning faces.

"Awe it's my fellow Cats Sí! Long time no see, guys!"

Sinon and Silica lit up to find Alicia and her friend Sakuya marching in with this elven host, and they were even more confused by the manor of their late arrival.

Sinon stuttered in response. "B-But where did you guys come from?"

Sakuya bowed for a brief moment to honor her allies. "I bring word from Chrysheight. He mentioned the forces of Rohan were in need of dire assistance as soon as we could afford time. He told us there would already be a joint army of elves and men, but we figured more would never hurt."

"Wow…" Silica looked like a kid at Christmas when she finished counting the new addition. "We're totally gonna win now!"

Sakuya and Alicia both smiled and nodded, and the former spoke up again. "Also, Leafa said to tell you both hi. She's been training with me in Lothlórien, but it seems the game's dictated her own path away from this battle."

"Awe." Silica nodded. "Well I hope she's doing well…anyway I guess we better get started!"

"Yea…" Sinon said with a low voice as she looked down to her now flooded map. "We better shut that gate too…"

The night had fallen to dusk, and a low hanging cloud scattered itself a crossed the entire valley battlefield. Several cries and shouts came from the Deeping Wall and its Hornburg counterpart, but all a crossed the field a river of black Uruk-hai marched it under hand held torch lights, long, ugly pikes, and tall banners of Isengard. They made their stampede with the sounds of war cries and growling noises, fit to spark any ember of fear into the heart of sane men.

Sinon stood with Silica along the Deeping Wall, and their other counterparts including Sakuya and Silica's Rohirric friends stood at the Hornburg's commanding turret. Alicia held the bulk of Lothlórien's forces behind the wall and in the back end of the Deep, where their arms were ready and their arrows were kept sharp.

Then silence fell over the allies as the hordes of Sigurd and Isegard stomped into their positions and began slamming the butts of their pikes into the ground. The scare tactic seemed to be working, because most of the forces along the wall looked to be in massive fear for their lives.

Silica was as well, but here keen eye in the night caught one major detail she wished to avoid. Deep within the impending forces of Isengard stood Rosalia atop a small wooden war machine. She looked confident with her army, but a little disgusted with her surroundings.

Silica's bones now had a deathly chill rattling them about, but just then Sinon gave her a pat on the shoulder and looked out over the field.

"Let's have a game. The most kills by the end gets full command of the army in Gondor."

Silica had no idea how Sinon could be looking at Gondor with a present so dim, but the competition and friendly wager made her crack a small smile in return. "Deal."

* * *

 **Well that was kinda short. Just a nice little buffer chapter. I'll be honest tomorrow's chapter was really fun to write for me. I hope you enjoyed today's, and I hope you'll enjoy tomorrow's once it's released!**


	31. 31: Battle of the Deeping Wall

**Author's Note: Okay, here we go. Silica, Sinon, Rosalia, Helm's Deep...game face.**

 **Also, I do not own Sword Art Online or the Lord of the Rings.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty One

Battle of the Deeping Wall

 _"The Horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep, one last time! Let this be the hour when we draw swords together."_

― Theoden, _The Two Towers_

* * *

The battle raged on from fire and blood, and cries of pain and agony clattered about the entire valley.

The orcs poured in like ants on a feast, and their weapons were just as sharp as any of the host alliance's, if not better. The black and green arms from Isengard fielded this battle with the intent to slaughter everything in their path, or to make way for an easy surrender and move on to their next objective.

However the armies of the Hornburg were not so bold to quit just yet. Men shot arrows upon arrows over their walls and into the necks and veins of every orc they could see, and the elves were accomplishing the same goal, only with even better accuracy. The field commanders looked to be in high spirits even for a darkened battle such as this, and right away there was immediate thought of victory right out of the gate.

"Hado i philinn!" Alicia had done a pretty decent job learning her local elvish, and she used a command for firing arrows to launch her army's projectiles over the walls and heads of her allies and onto the other side. Up atop the Deeping Wall, Silica was doing an excellent job as well commanding her own troops. Sinon was by far the best shot in the entire pack, and she had already racked up 10 or so deaths in her sitting.

"Man Silica! I'm gonna have twice the number of kills over you at this rate." She said with a teasing attitude.

"Hey no fair!" Silica yelled back trying to dodge a crossbow bolt. "I get half points from my army's kills since I have to command."

"Ha nah!" Sinon said, quickly piercing the eye of a far away orc. "But Maybe I'll let a few of them come up to get you some melee kills."

"Yea, that sounds worse actually." Silica was focused on defending the left flank of the wall she almost didn't realise Sinon wasn't kidding.

"Actually I was being funny…they're gonna get up here on their own."

Large black stepping ladders were being pulled up at the foot of the wall, and each one held ten or so orcs ready to kill their enemies.

Silica drew her _Sting_ blade and yelled to her men. "SWITCH!" to signify the need for melee weapons and none for bows.

Alicia made note of the rising ladders even though she couldn't see them, but never told her men to switch arms just yet. Instead she had them hold arrows ready for attack, and had them use targeting skills found within MEO to aim right above her friends headline.

Then in a quick instant a flood of orcs poured over the right flank of the wall, and Silica moved parts of her forces to counter their advance. She stabbed a falling Uruk from the top of a ladder, and then spun around to throw her _Ebon Dagger_ in another's chest.

Now grabbing the dagger, she used a wet rock floor to slide under neath the legs of much taller Uruks to deliver low blows and kills from the ground. Her men were not faring very well, but the scrappy little Silica was doing just find in a gorilla style battle zone.

Sinon had switched her aim to the far left end of the wall, and just then she ducked to let Alicia's wall of arrows soar over her head and kill dozens of approaching orcs on the tops of ladders. Sinon then turned to stick one's eye with her dagger, and shoved him off the wall. Then in a quick turn she drew her bow once again and sent an arrow right through another's head, only she also noticed a shiny blue elvish dagger piercing out of its heart to begin with.

Silica and Sinon both stepped up shouting "THAT ONE WAS MINE!" and then held their tongues for a brief moment.

They followed up by killing orcs on either side of each other's shoulders, and Sinon replied. "We'll call it even."

"Right." Silica nodded and looked over the wall again to find more orcs running up ladders, but now her men were pushing the ladders off the wall and down to hit the ground below.

This gave her a tiny cause to smile, but then she heard Sakuya yelling from the Hornburg, and as she turned the tiny Rohirric knight noticed a line of well armored Uruks charging up the causeway and readied themselves for storming the gate.

"NO NO NO!" Silica frantically yelled as she skipped past several battle scenes on her way to the left wall. She then spun her sword in several circles to force her men to adjust their aim. "KILL THOSE GUYS ON THE RAMP!"

Her archers moved their aim and tried killing what they could, but the line of tank Uruks were moving with too much armor, the tiny arrows of Rohan were not enough.

"SILICA!" Sinon yelled from behind. "WE GOT MORE PROBLEMS!"

Silica turned to find Sinon frantically shooting down several bombardier orcs running with large, circular mines of sorts and charging them down to the wall.

"Huh?" Silica thought. "Those look big, but this wall is pretty sturdy." She wasn't an expert, but Silica had more faith in the game's mechanics than first glance. She had no reason to believe those bombs could easily tear through solid rock on their own.

Then Sinon continued. "THE DRAIN SILICA! THEY'RE GONNA BLOW UP THE DRAIN!"

Silica's eyes widened to large spheres of red. If she had bothered to read the fabled books or films she would be well versed with the idea that the culvert basin at the central foot of the Deeping Wall was its only weakness, and if combined with large enough explosives, a cataclysmic explosion would break the stoned wall and send its troops straight to defeat.

Therefore Silica began shouting the only idea on her mind. "WELL GEEZE KILL THEM! THEN!"

Sinon had no need to take her advice, because it was already in use. She sent nearly all her own arrows into the running orcs, but more and more came with even more bombs, and now she was starting to drift into the extra supply of arrows to her left.

Finally they seemed to have enough set below, and then Sinon witnessed the berserker orc who ran in like an Olympic torch bearer, ready to ignite the flames below and cast the rock into destruction.

She fired everything she had, and gave it a few good sticks into its knees, but finally it had reached too close to the wall for her angle to beat.

Silica held her breath, lunged up on the wall, kissed her _Ebon Dagger_ goodbye and threw it right into the back of the running orc, killing it there and snuffing out the torch fire with a fall into the drain water.

Sinon let out a yelp and cheer as Silica successfully landed her hit, but far away in the back of the enemy host Rosalia watched with anger.

She rolled her eyes and stepped off her perch. She then grabbed the crossbow from one of her second in commands and loaded it with a single shot.

Without hesitation she shot through the sea of Uruks and landed her bolt right where it needed to go, but not before passing it through a random torch in the hands of an orc sitting in the cross fire.

The wall sounded like an atom bomb had dropped. Sinon reached out for Silica, but they both went flying into the air holding on to their ears in shear pain. Alicia fell backwards and watched water, rock, and fire fly into the air and unleash a new hole in the center of the Deeping Wall.

Sakuya watched from the Hornburg, and she and the Rohirrim surrounding her did not believe their eyes. Finally Rosalia winced with pride and stuffed the crossbow back in the lacking orc's hands.

"There. The first 5000 look tired…send in the second batch."

She had planned from the start not to use all 15,000 at once. Knowing an army of Rohirric cavalrymen march into the battle at the conclusion of the films, she held the last 5000 back waiting for any allies to come join the fun. In the other end she decided to unleash the full 10,000 remaining onto the broken fortress, and watched as all its soldiers burned.

Silica cleared her ringing mind from the explosion as she tried sitting up. Gushes of water were flowing in her face, but she was doing her best to stand as fast as she could. Stumbling around with a clueless effort, she located her _Ebon dagger_ in the front of the wall, and it was still stuck inside a dead Uruk. She also noticed just as she grabbed it that a new legion of at least 8,000 orcs were now running at full sprint for the hole in the wall, and this left her frightened beyond belief.

"Herio!" Alicia cried out another elvish command. She drew a long curved sword and instructed her round of 500 or so elves to _charge_ the hole in the wall, and just then Silica looked up to find a wall of elves coming to meet a wall of Uruks.

Then Sinon sprung off the wall and slid down a long Uruk pike. She stabbed its owner in the head and grabbed Silica by the arm. "WE GOTTA HEAD TO THE KEEP!"

"WE CAN'T!" Silica yelled, then she drew _Sting_ and began fighting with the elves.

Sinon had no option but to join in the skirmish and begin the long fight in the flood waters of the broken culvert.

Clash after clash the weapons of both sides hit with each other in sounds of steel and death. Blood drained into the waters, but more it the ground as elves, men and orcs fell by the dozens. The worst part was for every dead orc, 10 took its place in battle. This was not a war the Rohirrim could win easily, or at least the single battle.

Alicia looked to her two friends and smiled. "Sinon's right! You guys need to head to the keep right away! I feel like they could storm the front gate at any second."

"But what about this big hole in the wall!?" Silica said with confusion as she tried battling her way through orcs.

Alicia shrugged. "Hey I've got enough guys here. I'm sure it won't be that bad if…"

Then a quick flying bolt came in and stuck Alicia in the center of her chest. She let out a cry of blood and watched as Silica and Sinon let out screams as well.

"NO!" Silica yelled looking to try and find the bolt's owner, but she could only see a wall of orcs marching in.

"SILICA! SINON!" Sakuya yelled from the ramparts. "WE NEED MORE TROOPS HERE TO…"

She stopped yelling as a second bolt came in and pierced Alicia a second time with a harsh noise. The Lothlórien sorcerer's eyes turned to a quick glassy white with fear and sadness as she watched her best friend take several arrows to the chest.

Sinon wasted no more time in grabbing Alicia's body and taking it out of range form the hole. She then signaled for the rest of the elves to charge even more forward to give her and Silica time with Alicia.

The fallen leader of elves let out a giggle as she sat on the ground. "Sorry, I shoulda been quicker with my demands haha…"

Silica let a tear fall from her eye as she huddled over her fallen friend's body. "No no you're fine. Ill just pull out a…" She went to grab a healing crystal or vial but Alicia pushed her hand back.

"No _…*cough*…_ they don't make enough for wounds like this…ugh I think I'll just have to go back to AlFheim now and hope for the best."

"No you won't!" Sinon yelled. "You're gonna stay here and finish this battle with us!"

Alicia laughed again. "I'd love to…honest…but I have more faith in you guys than me at this point…you'll bring that cutey Kirito back to ALO, and then we'll all have a party at his cabin on floor…twenty…"

Then her voice faded into nothing, and just as Silica turned she heard Sakuya treading through mud and rock as she stood behind them. Right there the body of Alicia disappeared and turned into tiny little flakes just like the world of SAO.

Sakuya's eye began to twitch for a moment before it found Sinon and Silica looking back up. She then took a long pause and turned to the open wall.

"Get to the keep, and guard it with your lives."

Both girls looked at one another, and with great haste stood and ran for the exiting staircase that lead back to the Hornburg, but just in their retreat, Sakuya made one last comment.

"And when you finally release Kirito, let him no Alicia and I are deeply sorry for our own failures…"

She then charged forward and drew her long elvish sword for battle but just then she also signaled for her elves to step their battles backwards.

With a swift drop of her blade, she began reciting powerful magic from ALO. Then a great and broad wall of mud and earth sprung from the ground and sealed the whole up that had blown through Helm's Deep.

Silica and Sinon stopped to smile on their way up the stairs, but then they saw just how powerful of a spell it was and noticed Sakuya's knees it the ground quickly after its summon. Then without a second to pass an Uruk pike found itself in her chest and through her heart in a painful sight to watch.

Silica tried charging out to re-join the battle, but Sinon held her back with the help of several other Rohirric soldiers and began dragging her up the stairs. The watched as the new rock wall was also being hammered down by orcs, but it was taking a while for them to break.

Now firmly inside the ramparts of the upper Hornburg, the Rohirric captains from before were now charging the back of the gate doors with everything they hand, and on the other side a great wooden battering ram was thrusting its way through the cracks of the door and making a charge to break the gate down altogether.

Sinon and Silica's hearts began to race as they had no idea how to fix this mess. Their army was slowly shrinking, and more and more swarms of Uruk-hai were flowing into the fortress, albeit rather slowly due to Sakura's last stand and Earth Magic.

Sinon looked around with her mind racing on any option she had. She then looked up top to find a large slew of Rohirric archers still firing away, so she then decided to join them.

"Silica I'm going up top!" She said quickly grabbing the nearest ladder and making her climb above the gate.

"Okay but where should I go?!" Silica liked the enthusiasm but had no idea how to back it up.

Sinon used her new perched to look at the inner courtyard now quickly coming undone with the fall of Sakuya's magic. "Head back to that stone staircase we used to get inside from behind the wall. It looks like they're gonna need a leader worth rallying behind."

Silica bit her lip at the thought of actually leading an army solo, but she swallowed her fear and ran around the corner. "Okay but you can't go dying on me!"

"Not in the slightest…" Sinon kept the response to herself as Silica was now clear around the curved corner. She then got her shooter's eyes on and looked about the causeway for a nice target to find.

"There…" She said as she looked to find several of the back line orcs smashing the ram into the gate. She quickly drew her arrow and killed the furthest two back, and then stopped after realizing they were only being replaced by more and more orcs.

She rolled her eyes in response and snapped on some archery magic by powering up some fire to the tips of her arrows, but even after catching some of the orcs on fire, it appeared that the log ram was too damp in the late night brawl to catch.

Then more orcs picked it up once again and continued to smash in the wall near to its breaking point, which infuriated Sinon beyond belief. Then she began thinking of other arrows…and she started getting greedy.

Quickly acting, she looked to the lower Deeping Wall that stretched out from the front of the Hornburg, and she noticed a group of elves and Rohirrics still defending this side of it.

As a result she ran to the close side of the Hornburg's walls and slid down the rock face to land on the near side of the Deeping Wall. She then created a better angle on her target in front of the gate and made her aim. However, instead of keying her eye up on any orc, she aimed at the ram itself.

In a quick blink Sinon powered on her arrows again, only this one was white, thanks to her quick incantation. "Ek skýt aftur ör!"

Her fellow soldiers looked at her with puzzled eyes and then noticed a silver stringy arrow leading from Sinon's bow right into the end of the ram. She then threw her bow behind her back and grabbed the end of the string.

Now she tried her hardest to drag the end of the _retrieval arrow_ and pull the ram right off the side of the ramp, but it was proving to be harder than it first looked.

She had sweat coming off her brow, and arrows flew past her head with horrible accuracy. She thought she would have to let go and try again now that her grip was slipping, but just then several elves and men joined up behind her and grabbed hold of the rest of the stringed rope.

"Okay, and…heave!" She cried out trying to keep them motivated. The ram was no longer bashing into the gate, but it took more force to pry it from the hands of six or so Uruks who were desperately trying to keep it up.

Then, after a few good tugs, the ram budged out from its owners' hands and rolled off the side of the very tall causeway.

"WE DID IT!" Yelled several men, each congratulating one another on job well done. The elves gave Sinon a nod, who gave them a tiny salute back, but then she looked down to find an even bigger invasion of orcs storming the lands behind the Deeping Wall.

"Well, I hope Silica is ready for that."

Now we find Silica trying to stop those very same orcs from storming the stairway up and into the rest of the keep. It was about 30 men vs several hundred orcs, but the doorway was small and could only fight a few at a time.

They tried pushing through but tiny Silica and her powerful Rohirrim were fighting with every spec of their lives. Back and forth they slashed through dozens of orcs and pushed them down the stairs to salvage some breathing room.

Silica was starting to get confident because the night was set to end soon, and daybreak could only mean a turn for the good guys. She tried giving the final hours of the fight her very best, and it turns out that's exactly what she needed to do.

Her Rohirric friend from Edoras charged forward with a large spear in his hand and shoved a large column of orcs back down the stairs, while also piercing several in the chest with his spear. He then let go of it and grabbed his sword to continue hacking off the heads of others as they poured up the way.

Silica tried to keep his left flank safe in case something else came his way, but just then another crossbow bolt shot out and slammed right into his neck, right between his helmet and shoulder pad.

"NO!" Silica yelled out, trying to keep him standing. The man fell, and quickly looked at Silica with injured eyes.

"Please…lead Rohan to…" Another arrow pierce his neck again before he could continue, and Silica looked up with fiery eyes to find Rosalia of all people holding a crossbow on the Deeping Wall.

Silica narrowed her vision, but then looked closer to this side of the wall and found Sinon with an arrow stuck in her own calf. The little girl's eyes widened with even more certain fear, and provoked her to try the impossible.

In a quick instant, Silica powered on a swift sneak skill that she would normally use to run through enemies or tall monsters (like a big green _acidic dragon_ perhaps?) She then took up the side of the doorway and wall ran the entire length of the short way between the door she was at, and the near side of the Deeping Wall.

Silica flipped off the wall and knocked away an incoming bolt with her sword as she quickly landed behind Sinon's injured body. She was still alive but looked like she couldn't walk.

However, she could still definitely fight. "Agh…did that bitch just shoot me with a crossbow?"

Silica tried to hold in her anger to answer her friend. "She did." Rosalia was walking forward with her crossbow loaded in one hand and a black pike in her other.

"I hate those things…so cheep." Sinon leaned back and grabbed her bow, and then spoke up softly. "Three…two…one…"

In that instant Silica darted forward in a streak of bright blue light, and then at the same time Sinon sat up and launched an arrow right for Rosalia's face at the exact same speed.

Rosalia knocked the arrow away with her spear, but Silica had enough time and force to kick the crossbow out of her hands and clear off the wall. She then drew _Sting_ and began slashing at Rosalia in open combat.

The angry red head spun her spear around to block, and then looked Silica in the eye. "I'm sorry, did I kill all your friends? Or is that one over there too stubborn to die?"

Silica ignored her and continued to hack at Rosalia's spear, but like before Rosalia just blocked her meager dagger with the shaft of her pike.

"Lay down your sword Silica, and just surrender this shit hole right now. You're wasting my time, and a lot of NPC lives."

"I'm not wasting anything…" Silica argued in her attacks. "I'm fighting…to save Kirito…AND TO KILL _YOU_!"

Then Silica broke through Rosalia's spear like it was a tiny little stick. The Uruk commander had no idea _Sting_ would be that sharp, but soon experienced it for herself as it pierced her lower abdomine and sent her kneeling to the ground.

Rosalia's eye began to twitch with pain and a drop of blood fell from her lip as she turned and looked at Silica. "That Black swordsman is gonna die in here you know? You're already too late to save him."

Silica gave her no satisfaction in a response and drew out her blade to finish Rosalia's life, and let her fade away into a cloud of glowing pixels. She then turned to go help Sinon, but at the same time two of her senses were greeted by fresh new awakenings.

One was light. Her eyes now gave witness to a glowing beam of sunlight that passed over the eastern hills. As it cascaded down the valley she also came to meet a second alarm, only this one matched her ears.

A horn of Rohan sounded as swarms of Rohirric cavalry men stormed down a hillside on the eastern valley, and slayed every single orc they passed. A second force came in from behind to dispose of the back 5000 that Rosaila had held off for protection, but now they all laid either dead or in fear for their lives as the Rohan armies flooded the valley and saved the survivors of the Hornburg.

Silica leaned down and gave Sinon a great big hug, and Sinon returned it. The little Rohirric general then grabbed Sinon's arm and threw it over her shoulder in an attempt to lift her up, but then two living Rohan knights took the rest for their own task.

They all waited on the broken wall to find a group of three commanding marshals riding over their way, and just hen they all lowered their heads.

"My Lady Silica, congratulations on saving the Hornburg. On behalf of my kinsmen and every man and woman in the Riddermark, we thank you."

Silica gave them a cute smile and shrugged. "It wasn't all me…I had tons of help." She looked to her friends, especially Sinon who gave her a smile back.

Then Sinon looked to the commanders. "Which begs the question, who sent you?"

The Rohirrim men all laughed, and the middle man spoke again. "Well we were originally organized by Miss Silica's war council to gather every able sword in the Kingdom to her cause, but after riding too far north a messenger gave us cause to return south…Lady Leafa and Lord Recon send their regards, but they are now bringing their hosts to take out our enemy in Isengard now."

Silica lit up like a firework, but Sinon only gave them a half smile.

"Okay then…hopeful they know what they're doing."

* * *

 **Silica gets the confirmed kill! Bonus points for being the enemy general. I wonder who ended up winning their little Legolas/Gimli wager?**

 **However we also lost some valiant warriors in this chapter...they'll return to ALfheim now.**

 **New chapter tomorrow...sounds like Leafa get's to reunite with Recon...and Sigurd.**


	32. 32: The Fall of Isengard

**Author's Note: Okay, the conclusion to the western war-front is here! I hope you enjoy the siege of Isengard, it'll be a good one!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Thirty Two

The Fall of Isengard

 _"My business is with Isengard tonight, with the rock and stone."_

― Treebeard, _The Two Towers_

* * *

Leafa the elf from Lothlórien was leading the final assault on the enemy in Isengard, with her army of elves at her front and her allies to her side. Her friend and old partner Recon from ALO had spent time in the Fagorn Forest, and recruited a number of Ents and Huorns to his cause by means of friendship and kindness with the earth.

Leafa managed to scrape a few hundred warriors from the Galadhrim forces marching for Helm's Deep before their departure, and most of the soldiers who stayed back in the goldwood eventually found cause to join her as she road south to end the armies of Isengard in the west.

She was determined to fufill on her promise to her friends and Fellowhsip mates as she watched the battle ensue over the walls of the the Great Ringed Fortress. She stood just over a broken sector of the gate as her armies poured into the fallen land and destroyed everything in their path.

What remaining orcs, Uruks, warg, and Dunlendings that stayed and fought were no match for a well-trained army of Silvan elves and a large force of living ents. The trees from Fanghorn were tall and powerful, but they were also alive. One by one a mass of hundreds stormed out of the wood at the hand of their partnership with Recon, and stepped into Isengard to lay its forces low and watch it return to a friendly place for the woodlands once more.

Leafa was now a powerful adversary herself, but she was also nervious. This was her first test standing alone, and so far her Fellowship had earned victory in the north, and a supposed victory to the east in Helm's Deep. She had no direct word on their outcome, but only assumed the best. Therefore she took a deep breath from her perch atop the falling rock and began her own battle against the Isengard foe.

"Ek skýt tuttugu smár striða!" She unleashed a wall of emerald wind needles to pierce through the hearts of several orcs that stood in front of her, and then finished the rest off with a firm swipe of her elven sword. She then balled her hands up, and summoned a rock wall to defend herself from incoming arrows to the right, and followed up by sending out a whipped tornado of wind right for their launchers.

She ran ahead, and quickly sprinkled several war machines and artillery with fire balls and streams of flame, and they caught up in flames very quickly due to the dryness of Isengard. The river was dammed to make way for production, but now it hurt the landscape more than ever.

Leafa also made note of the river dam itself in case the foe became too unruly, but for now she relied on her own hand as a new sorceress and her allies to help her earn victory.

"RECON!" She shouted out. "WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"HERE!" He yelled from the top of a tall ent, and he also threw several large piles of rock off his shoulder and into the heads of pitiful orcs down below. He turned the tree around and gave her a quick grin. "Need anything from me?"

Leafa rolled her eyes and turned away. "Just keep an eye on your trees. They may get hurt if they're not careful."

"Leafa I don't know what you're talking aboOOUT!" He gasped as one of them was now caught on fire due to a few flaming arrows form Uruks.

Leafa rolled her eyes yet again and spun up a whirl of dirt and sand to help put most of the flames out, but she cursed this method as lousy. "This isn't good enough…we gotta take out that river dam. If we flood this place, all those creepy worm holes will fill up, and their underground army will drown."

"Sounds kinda sinister…" Recon admitted. "B-But they're just NPC bad guys! Yup we need to take out that dam ASAP!"

"Good!" She gave him a quick giggle. "Then thank you for volunteering!"

"WHA-!?" Recon did not sign up to climb a mountain and undo a river dam, but Leafa was now turning her sights on her own target.

"Please? Just get up there and do it! I really need your help Recon."

Recon sighed. "Fine…but where are you gonna be?"

"Oh I'll be fine, and high up too…" She quickly reassured him that she would not drown from the water, and now her eyes were facing the Tower of Orthanc.

"Yea, that's it…I'll be perfectly high in the air."

She started running at full sprint for the tower entrance and left Recon and the ents to take out the dam. Right away she whistle over to a few fellow elves to give her a nice escort, to which they gladly agreed.

Now with a small task force storming the tower, she had full hopes that this game was just about over. Her elves went in to take out several large Uruk guards, but more poured down from the inner stairs of the first floor of the tower.

Lef drew her sword and charged them too, and hit after hit her group fought valiantly to defeat the troops of the wizard. Leafa sent out a few air spells to knock the orcs on their feet, and then her elves would go in for a further kill, but suddenly more would pour down from the other staircase, and Leafa only saw this as a distraction and deterrent of time.

As a result her guards gave a signal to let her slip up the stairs and leave the Uruks to her, but even as she ran up the many flights more Uruks joined in to fight her.

They were a lot harder to kill with just one person, but even so the magic wielder made easy work of her stationed foes.

Leafa passed through more columns and steps of obsidian coloring and dark purple hues to only find the chill on her spine growing more and more with each foot taken into the tower air. She did not want to go into this fight alone, but it truly was what she had been training for this entire time.

Then low and behold she made it to the inner sanctum of the resident wizard. Leafa poured into the central magic room to find it empty and alone, except for a vacant throne of black stone, and a round object covered by a cloth in the middle of the room.

Leafa inched closer and closer to the object under the cloth with her sword raised, and with each tip toe she did not hear anyone else with her in the tower. Finally she took a deep breath and removed the sheet.

It began as nothing, just a solid black-glass sphere with a shade of grey glowing inside, but then the grey changed to orange, and as the shadows grew on the interior a familiar lidless eye wreathed in flame took its gaze right upon her.

Leafa's lungs stopped producing air as she was now in fear for her life. This horrible foe she found in the Mirror of Lothlórien was once again ridiculing her from an object, and she had no idea what it was and where it was coming from.

Then, someone knocked her sword from her hand and grabbed her by the arm. Now twisting it behind her back in a painful manner, the figure tossed the cloth back over the marble ball and pulled her back for a conversation.

"Of all the little fairies to come find me in my tower…it just had to be _you._ "

"Si…gurd…" Leafa was struggling to trying and keep him from breaking her arm, but the twisting motion he was putting on it was worse than she imagined.

Sigurd rolled his eyes. "And I suppose that little runt Recon is here too…you fools are far to predictable."

"Says the idiot…copying a movie villain…" Leafa countered with a sarcastic tone.

Sigurd curled his lip downward and tossed her into a wall where she smacked her face against the black stone. She coughed for a bit standing up and then Sigurd slammed his black staff into the ground.

"I'm insulted that you came in here to charge me alone. Did no one tell you I'm a MASTER WIZARD IN THIS WORLD!?" He used his wizarding rod to throw her up to the ceiling and slammed her into the rock above, and then brought her down and threw her against the wall once again.

Leafa coughed up a few more times before she finally found room to speak. "That army you raised to kill Rohan…it just lost."

She was actually bluffing. To be honest she had no idea how they were doing, but all to find the look of anger on his face was just enough to make her happy.

"Grr…" He grunted with rage. "I'll build another one, and I'll make sure it's not run by some idiot woman."

Leafa let out a laugh. "Oh so I was right? I was just trying to get a reaction."

He tossed her head into the wall by moving his staff up towards her neck. She let out a scream of pain and then began breathing again.

Finally he rolled his eyes and released her to the floor, where he then began pacing around on the other side of the room.

"You have fought many wars and slain many of my creatures, Leafa, yet you still made your own peace afterwards. Can we not takejoin sides like we once did? Can we not have peace like our days in Swilvane and ALO?"

Leafa slowly stood up and grabbed her fallen sword from the ground. She then readied a stance. "The last time we agreed for peace…was right after I beat you in a tournament in Swilvane."

Sigurd raised an eyebrow. "Oh trust me…I remember."

Leafa put her foot down. "Well good, I hope you enjoyed it, because I'm going to do it again, but this time I won't hand you peace."

Sigurd sighed and began rubbing his brow. "What do want Leafa? What do you want with this world? The key of this tower? Or perhaps the keys into Mordor itself? Along with the each Ring of Power and _the One_ to rule them all?"

"I don't want anything to do with this lousy game!" Leafa's head was starting to hurt with all the funny words. She shook it and yelled out. "I want my brother back…I want Kirito!"

"The Spriggan…" Sigurd narrowed his vision. "His days were numbered the moment he stepped foot in MIDDLE-EARTH!"

Sigurd cast a large bolt of green right for Leafa's head, but she used her metal sword to deflect it into the wall. She then charged forward and began swiping at him several times to keep his magic low, but he knocked her back with his solid staff.

He whipped up a wind storm of his own inside the chamber, and sent it flying right for Leafa, but she used her own magic to guide it all out the nearest balcony exit.

Sigurd grinned. "Ah, Sakuya trained you in the Goldwood, very interesting. No wonder you came to face me alone…you want a magic battle."

Leafa never gave him a response and sent a quick ball of fire hurling right towards him, but Sigurd swiped it away like it was a feather in the wind.

"My technique, power, and skill level are all higher than yours, Leafa. My manna pool is far greater than yours, and my staff grants me extra boosts. Not to mention the other nameless trinkets and objects in this castle that are used to grant me more power. I am a far superior player than you, Leafa, and I will send you back to ALO with this battle's end."

"Yea?" Leafa tried to reply. "Well…I still have my Ring of Power!"

They both charged forward with glowing hands and sent beams of light soaring at the other's face. Leafa's moved faster, but Sigurd's was bigger and stronger, and started pushing her back towards the edge of the door way.

Then, Sigurd quelled the light and gave her a grin as he looked to his throne. "Although…you were one of the better looking players in the Sylph Kingdom…you wouldn't look half bad at my side of this new army."

"Oh spare me, creep." Leafa sent out a wind spell of needles to hit him in the chest, but he treated them like dust and scattered them into the wall. He then picked up his staff from its lowered position and lifted Leafa off the ground.

Now with her gasping to be let down, he gave her one final word.

"You're right. It'd be far safer just to let you die."

Without any hesitation, Sigurd sent her through the short hallway and out the balcony window, and watched as she plunged off the side of the tower and out of his vision.

"N-No…w-what have you done?"

Sigurd turned to find a soaking wet Recon standing in the entrance doorway from the steps, and he looked both heartbroken and ill at the same time.

"I almost made it…I almost…"

Sigurd rolled his eyes and then gave him a grin. "Calm down Recon…you'll join her soon."

Recon's forehead was starting to show a bulging vein of anger, and then he drew two daggers and glared right at Sigurd.

"You're…YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!"

Sigurd quickly dodged one slice form Recon's quick draw daggers, but the little Halfling was moving very fast to keep up with him. Sigurd also seemed to be enjoying himself sine his last battle ended rather quickly, and this was another familiar face to defeat.

"You were always the fool, Recon. So naïve and stupid, always prancing behind Leafa like she was some kind of saint. You once had promise as your own self-made warrior, but now..."

Recon started breathing heavily and turned to face Sigurd. "I already knew that, and you know who helped me find that out…LEAFA!"

He swiped furiously to try and cut the enemy Sigurd, all while shouting out his own verbal defense. "I WORK WITH THE ROYAL GUARD OF SWILVANE NOW, SIGURD! I ALREADY SHOW PROMISE! …but you wouldn't know because you were banished."

Sigurd's smile had turned to anger, and he was starting to get rather annoyed with the little foe. He quickly drew up a powerful spell of flames and shot it a crossed the room, but the crafty little Recon ducked low to dodge it.

Then Recon ran a crossed the floor of the room to deliver a nice slice to Sigurd's legs, but the wizard was far quicker now with patience. He used his staff to freeze Recon in space and then held him up in the air.

"Well I was going to offer you a pass, but now I might give you the same treatment I gave Leafa." He decided to start leading Recon's floating body over to the hall with the balcony window, but the little Halfling wasn't done.

"Sounds good, cause from right here shes not even dead yet."

"Hmph…wait what?" Sigurd was caught off guard, but just then he heard a voice coming from beyond the balcony.

"SIGURD! I'VE GOT SOME NEW MAGIC TO SHOW YOU!"

The angry green wizard turned with his mouth now agape to find Leafa had unlocked the most bizarre aspect from ALO and brought it into MEO.

The true wonder of this Middel-Earth game was the fact that it allowed for advanced players to transfer not only their avatars, but eventually their outfits, objects, skills, abilities, and even some forms of magic with them a crossed the Seed transfer, but in this instance Leafa had cracked the mold.

She now had her glowing green fairy wings fluttering behind her. Of all the objects to be brought over, Leafa managed to take the gift of flight from ALfheim and combine it with the world of Middle-Earth.

Sigurd was in awe as Leafa flew in, however all's she had was a sword and a new charge of magic. Then she yelled to her ally.

"NOW RECON!"

Sigurd turned to now find Recon looking back at him with blackened eyes, as if he were beginning to recite black magic from ALO.

"Ek kalla svartr tjúgari, hverfa himni…"

"No no no not this spell!" Sigurd was trying to focus all his energy on a containment spell to counter the blow from what appeared to be Recon's legendary _self-destruct spell_ , but the little Hafling was far quicker than he realized.

"brott regin…gapa…Niðafjo-!"

"NOOOO!" Sigurd cried out to match the final word of Recon's spell, but he never heard him finish as his chest was quickly pierced with the blade of Leafa's sword.

He stopped breathing and relinquished control of little Recon back to gravity, and then fell to his knees while also dropping his staff. Meanwhile Recon stopped his spell just in time to keep himself from leveling the tower in one blow.

Finally Leafa landed in the throne room and walked around Sigurd's body to greet him face to face. She then held her sword up and to his neck.

"Okay Sigurd, you were deep within Annatar's circle of trust. What's his next move?"

Sigurd looked completely lost. He gave her a look of dissatisfaction and anger, but also of fear and weariness.

Then he did the only thing left he could do. He lunged forward and stabbed himself with the tip of Leafa's sword right through his own neck.

"You're brother is already gone…" Sigurd then fell off the tip of the sword and down to the ground where he turned into the death cloud of pixils and vanished into nothing.

Leafa sighed and sheathed her sword to help Recon off the ground. "Come on, we have to go find the others."

As they emerged from the tower Leafa was grinning to find the entire place was covered with a flood of water, and it looked like every orc and enemy was flushed out and killed.

Recon wanted to smile, but he was still lost from before. "H-Hey Leafa…you don't actually believe Sigurd do you?"

"About what?" Leafa replied with a lowly voice. "About my brother?"

Recon nodded. "I don't, and I don't want you too either."

Leafa turned forward and lowered her head. She then delivered a glowing smile. "Nah, I don't. Kazuto's alright, and he'll be waiting for us on the other side."

"Lady Leafa!" One elf yelled as he ran over to greet them. "We have a letter from Helm's Deep. They earned a victory, and ask that you meet them in the Rohan capital Edoras."

Leafa nodded and took the letter. "Thanks. I can't wait to see the other guys. I'll be so happy to tell them we beat Sigurd."

"No kidding." Recon nodded and laughed as he scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, nice magic Leafa…so now what?"

Leafa changed her demeanor form happy to serious, and then turned towards the broken hole in the eastern wall of Isengard. She then opened up her menu, and extracted a dark black ball of marble that she had taken from Isengard, and held it up for Recon to see.

"We're going to use this to get to the bottom of Annatar's plan, or Sauron, or whatever the hell his name is." She held it with the cloth, and made sure not to touch it.

Recon poked the ball with his finger nail like it was alive and dirty. He then stepped away to let Leafa return it to her bag. Then, after a long sigh, the blonde Galadhrim elf looked to the east.

"Then, we'll take an army and go help Asuna. We're one step closer to ending this whole thing…and one step closer to getting Kazuto back safe and sound."

* * *

 **Leafa brought flight into ALO! And Recon almost sacrificed himself for the good of the company! Thankfully he didn't, these two will have a good story later on.**

 **Well that wraps up 2/3rds of the story! The second Book comes to an end here, and tomorrow will be the first chapter of the final book!**

 **Comment and review your thoughts so far! I'd like to hear what everyone thought of this section, especially with all the individual character boss battles. Did you have a favorite? Or is there a character who fought that you'd like to see more of later on? They'll all be prominent in the latter half of the final book, but the next few chapters will be used to catch us up with one character we haven't seen for a while...lol, and she's supposed to be the main character of this story (and perhaps my favorite in SAO.)**

 **Until then!**


	33. 33: The Realm of Gondor

**Author's Note: Okay we finally made it to Book III, or the final third of the story! So far we just came off some pretty neat battles with all the supporting characters, but now we'll see where we left off with our main character. Other than that, please enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Book III - The Rise of the Dark Lord

* * *

Chapter Thirty Three

The Realm of Gondor

" _Gondor! Gondor, between the Mountains and the Sea!  
West Wind blew there; light upon the Silver Tree_"

― Aragorn, the _Lord of the Rings_

* * *

The ride from the Great Sea into the Anduin Delta took less time than originally expected. This was good. The men of Gondor looking to re-join their brethren fighting in the east now had a quicker opportunity to do so. They had passed into the realm through the harbors of Pelargir, the great Port City of Gondor, and were taking their ships and newly assembled army up the river.

This was all thanks to their new commander at arms, Asuna Yuuki. She had landed their barge in Pelargir and assembled what men she could in the lone port city for her cause, and as a result they required more boats than expected. The original strategy was to take horses up the road and travel by land, but since their host was now larger, and Pelargir was more of a boat town with less horses, the latter option came to be more appropriate.

Asuna was confident with her new position, so much so that it started reminding her of her days with the Knights of the Blood Oath, but the whole war was starting to get to her. She had not seen any of her friends other than Chrysheight and Yui for the past 2 weeks, and Chrysheight left over a week ago to head to the north.

Either way she was very tense heading into this new territory. Yes, she had chosen the class Gondor for her avatar, but she had no idea what any of that meant back then. Actually being in their kingdom and experiencing their way of battle opened her eyes a lot more to both the faction and the game. As a result she now found herself in the captain's quarters aboard the head ship leading up the Anduin, and here is where she found most of her comfort in solitude.

"I'm worn out already, and we haven't even gotten there!" Asuna said as she lied back on her nice but wobbly bed aboard the ship. They gave her nice accomidations for being a new rising leader, but other than that no other soldier really paid the young lady any mind. She had scared most of her original company with the possession of the Ring around her neck, and the newly joined crew members were not yet familiar with her or her style of leadership.

Yui sighed and nodded from her position. "I know…I bet you feel terrible, mommy."

Yui was out of her necklace, and she used a trick to have herself grow into her full size just like she did in ALO. She even had her white, one-piece dress on from her common form as she lied on the other end of the tiny bed with her in-game mother.

Asuna paused for a moment and sat up. "Yea…I kind of do feel terrible." She then reached up and took the Ring around her neck off, and set it down on the bed. Even though it was only a little ring with a chain necklace, the mystic object felt like it weighed 10 times that amount due to its immense magic power.

Yui shifted her position to stay as far away from the Ring as she could, and even grimaced the moment it hit the sheets. "I don't like that thing…I think you need to take it off a lot more often than that."

Asuna let out a tiny smile. "Yui, I'm glad you're concerned about me, but sometimes I really have no choice…I chose to take the Ring, and I need to be the one to keep it safe."

"I guess…" Yui sat up and looked out the window to look a crossed the river. "Are you okay right now? Without having it around your neck?"

Asuna started rubbing her neck. "Yea, it feels like I've had 20 pounds just taken off my shoulders." She then held her head a little low. "I was also starting to get a head ache. I think it gave me a little fire when I was taking command of the group, but I may have gone a little over board."

"…" Yui looked up at Asuna with a long face. She then looked back down at the Ring lying innocently on the bed. "Do you think it will work?"

"Huh?" Asuna turned and looked right at Yui with a curious face. "Will what work?"

Yui turned to look back out the window overlooking the eastern banks of the river. She could see dark grey and black clouds hovering over evil looking mountains in the distance, and as a result earned a few chills down her virtual spine.

"Do you think we'll save daddy if we destroy it? Will we find him when the Ring gets to Mount Doom?"

Asuna lowered her shoulders and let out a tiny laugh of relief, followed by a few tears forming under her eyes. She reached over and softly grabbed Yui by the head and laid her's down on top of it.

"Yui, I know it will work. Kirito is still alive and well, and when we destroy the Ring, he'll be right back in our lives."

Yui wiped a few tears from her own eyes as well and wrapped her arms around Asuna's waist. The Gondor knight smiled even brighter and embraced the new hug. As they sat in silence for a brief moment, a horn was blown from the bow of the ship, followed by several frantic soldiers.

"Mommy, are we here?" Yui said looking around in minor panic.

Asuna lifted her head up and looked out the window, and then turned to look at the door. "I don't know, but I better get out there."

Yui nodded and waved her hands to disappear into a light of white that flowed back into Asuna's Evenstar necklace. The Gondor Captain then reached over and grabbed the Ring, and after firmly placing it back around her neck, she stuffed it under her breast plate for safe keeping and stood to grad _Lambent Light_ off the dresser, and open the door.

When she emerged, Asuna was greeted by a sunlit yellow sky over a mountain and several walls, but a small sliver of the eastern horizon was covered in a creeping black shadow. The land over the walls looked to be flat in front of the mountain, but the fortification was built right up to the edge of the river, so she was left with no real view of the land.

However, when she stood on a taller section of the boat, Asuna could see a very tall white tower standing near height to some of the lower peaks of the White Mountain chain to the west. It had to be part of a bigger entity, but for now Asuna was only left with a blank view of a boring white/grey outer wall.

"Quick!" On sailor yelled. "Make way past the Rammas Echor, we can't stop until we reach Osgiliath!"

"Are you an idiot!?" Another cried out. "We were not sent for immediate combat! We were organized to join the guard at Minas Tirith, and then if the garrison at Osgiliath needed us we could gain more support after."

"Hold on." Asuna stepped up and confronted the now large crowd backing both arguments. "What's going on past the capital? Is it urgent?"

The first man spoke up again. "It is Milady. The river city Osgiliath is the first credible line of defense before the forces of Mordor hit the capital's outer wall. They'll need all the help they can get if they plan on making it through the night."

The other interjected to stop the proposal. "Apologies Lady Asuna, bur we cannot go there yet. We need to re-form in the capital, and await the orders from the Steward."

Asuna looked angry to hear that. "I'm sure if the Steward hopes to keep his Kingdom alive, he'll want all the bodies he can get in Osgiliath."

"Yes that's true, but we cannot leave for it without…"

"Our army is well-prepared enough to battle, and we're not the first force there, we're the support. We'll take our company up the river and measure the situation."

The first trooper bowed with acceptance and quickly made haste to prepare the sails for more travel, but the second shook his head.

"Oh I cannot wait to tell the general about this."

"…" Asuna rolled her eyes and continued walking towards the bow to think to herself.

 _"_ _Okay, this Osgiliath place sounds pretty important…I wonder if it's the eastern war Gondor's failing to win?"_

Asuna's small navy was soon about to realize this was no ordinary skirmish. They made the round past the great outer wall of the capital and passed to the north, where all's Asuna saw was smoke and fire coming from a burning white city of ruble.

"Oh no…what happened here?" She said with frantic eyes.

A solider walked by to answer. "Eh don't think all that happened over this war. That city was pretty ancient to begin with."

"That's reassuring I guess…" Asuna sighed and shook her head. She then looked back up with determined eyes. "Okay, prepare to dock along side our allies."

The men obliged their current leader and made way for the western banks of the river.

There it sat, the ancient metropolis on the river. In the old Great Hall of the city the thrones of the sons of Elendil were set side by side. In its days of glory, Osgiliath featured quays to handle sea-going vessels that came up from the sea, a great stone bridge supporting houses and towers of stone, and the Dome of Stars, which housed the Osgiliath-stone, the greatest of the seven Palantíri.

However after years of decay and hardship the city fell into ruin, and the city's palantír fell into the river and washed down the Anduin. Now it sits as two sides of a broken river ford, where currently a great battle between men and orcs is being waged.

On the western half the black field banner with the White Tree of Gondor flew overhead in pride and light. On the eastern banks however the orcs had taken rule. A black banner with a bright reddish-orange eye flew from the winds out of the east, and just little by little the black looming cloud overhead was ever expanding into the fields of Gondor to the west.

Asuna felt a growing fear expand within her heart, and as she looked upstream, the hand over her sword hilt was shaking more and more.

Then she took a deep breath, and pulled out Yui's phial for comfort, thus regaining her confidence. She also touched the chain from the Ring to ensure it was still safe, and then quickly drew _Lambent Light_ to begin her forces move.

"Alright, archers draw bows and keep them aimed towards the east. Everyone else prepare to jump ship to the west."

Everyone nodded, and just as the ship passed by the outer walls of Osgiliath the men with bows and arrows set loose their fire into several orcs patrolling the lower shores. Their barges were also met with return fire, but most of the ship walls and overhangs were well high enough to block the arrows. Then the boats quickly docked next to an allied garrison on the western shores, and as the hatch lowered into the dirt the extra soldiers piled out and into the city. Asuna led their lines and marched most of them to the central sector of town, while she let the archers slowly remove themselve from the boat with comfort.

Asuna was horrified to find so many fallen bodies and wounded soldiers for a home team defense. The damage to the Gondor forces looked like nothing she had seen in a game before, and now had no idea where to take her troops.

Until she heard battle cries. "SAVE THE BRIDGE!"

Asuna looked up to find a load of troops running up the steps to join a battle on the main bridge, so she rallied her own forces to aid the cause. However when she got there she came a crossed a horrible sight of more Gondor soldiers losing to weak and unorganized orcs.

"How have they held out for this long!?" She wondered with confusion as more and more fell, until she looked to the front of the bridge and saw one very tall and muscular soldier nacking his way through the front lines of Mordor's troops.

He had short, spikey red hair with broad shoulders and large arms. He was also tall and wore all black armor with accents of silver, and no helmet. He also wielded a great long sword with a golden and black hilt that slashed through dozens of men at once, and he also wore a black and white cape depicting the White Tree of Gondor.

Despite the local attire, Asuna knew fully well who it was, and reasoned with herself on the success of the Gondor troops. "Oh right…Eugene's leading them."

Asuna charged ahead with _Lambent Light_ in her hand, and with quick feet moving underneath she raced into battle with a glowing sword of green. Now hacking through everything in her path, it only took a brief moment for her to come intot he center of the bridge and kill an in coming orc ready to stab Eugene in the back.

The tall general knew it was there, but as he turned around he was surprised to see a familiar face from ALO, and even more surprised to find her blade in the orc's back.

"Well well, if it isn't the Spriggan's little lady. I heard _Lightning Flash_ Asuna was on her way, but I was starting to lose hope."

Asuna raised an eye brow and wiped away the blood from her rapier with a grin. "Well I had quite the journey, but I felt now was the best time to enter the fight in Gondor."

"Is that so?" Eugene said with a wry smile. He then looked at the troops coming behind Asuna. "I take it that's your host…why do they have banners from Pelargir and not Dol-Amroth?"

"Ahehehe…" Asuna started rubbing the back of her head. "We valued time over men, and Pelargir offered quicker travels up the river."

"Well, sounds like quite the plan, almost ridiculous if you ask me. Tell me, where can I find my…?"

"General Eugene."

Both commanders turned around to find another Gondor soldier with red hair walking up behind them, and it just so happened to be the same one that argued with Asuna just outside the capital port.

She narrowed her vision as he approached the general, and right away the soldier lowered his head. "It's good to see you. I was worried I'd never make it back to the battle."

"Kagemune." Eugene cracked a smile and gave him a man's handshake. "Glad to see you're back. You mind telling me where Mortimer is?"

Asuna's eyes widened, and her heart started pounding as Kagemune looked to her with a serious expression. She now recognized him as one of Eugene's second-in-command Salamander troops from ALO, and quickly felt nervous for the situation to come.

Kagemune never hesitated. "Sir…Mortimer fell in battle just outside Eriador. We were making it onto the boat when he was defeated by a Ringwraith."

"…is that so?" Eugene now had a solemn expression and looked to the south.

Kagemune wasn't done. "Now he did manage to live, and someone even carried him onto the boat." He then turned to Asuna. "But our new CO here gave him a mercy killing, and she was a little over-enthusiastic about it if you ask me."

Eugene never replied and only turned straight at Asuna. She stood tall, but a little angry that Kagemune was weaving the story to try and put his death on her.

Finally she spoke. "He was stabbed by a Morgul Blade. It was either let him become a wraith, or kill him…and I can tell you right away he was the one who made the decision."

"Aye he did…" Kagemune stepped up to confront her. "But you gutted him without hesitation there on the boat, and you were the only one around him when the wraith stabbed him. Then you stole that badge and took the crew like we were some…!"

Eugene walked between them and put a hand on Asuna's shoulder. He then sighed. "Mortimer never should have gone on that mission anyway. He was always the better strategizer, which is why he sould have remained here…I should have been the one who went to Rivendell."

Asuna shook her head. "You're both extrodinary leaders, and we were lucky to have either of you."

Eugene cracked a smile. "So tell me, did he give you his seal of command after falling?"

Kagemune narrowed his vision with anger, but Asuna nodded. "Yea, he did right when he started breathing again on the boat. Then his wound was getting worse, and he asked me to end it for him…"

"Save it." Eugene explained. "For the record, Mortimer's seal was higher than mine, so if this gets okayed by the Steward, you might become my CO."

Asuna smiled but shook her head. "Oh no I just needed to rally men for the fight. I'll relinquish this after I…"

"You commanded the army in SAO, didn't you? The big one, Knights of the Blood Oath. As far as I see it we're equals with our military careers. Like I said after we finish up a defense here we'll head west to the…"

"NAZGÛL!" A soldier yelled with a frightened voice as all the men in the area quickly raised their rectangular black shield sright over their heads.

Eugene raised his sword and looked to the east, and Asuna and Kagemune followed suit. Then they took witness to a truly horrible sight to behold.

The horrible fiend was a winged creature with great size and claws, similar to a serpant but much larger than any other flying beast. The creature possessed a naked body without feathers, a long neck, and a vast hide between its horned fingers, and its heads appeared to look like a snake's.

Asuna looked completely stunned as it came flying in right over the bridge, and just in the nick of time Eugene grabbed her and Kagemune and brought them down below its reach, which left the monster wide open to grab the troops behind them and throw them off the bridge.

"What the hell was that!?" Asuna rang out with fear. "Was it a dragon?"

"No." Eugene replied holding his sword with two hands. "It was a fell beast of Mordor. Those bastard Ringwraiths picked them up a while ago, and now they're using them instead of horses."

They watched it circle around the western half of the city to make a return attack, and just then Asuna saw the cloaked figure in black riding atop it back.

Eugen looked at her and saw a thin chain hanging around her neck. He then looked her in the eye. "They know what you brought here, and they want it bad."

Asuna didn't like the sound of that, and quickly had to dodge more claws as the beast flew back down for a second attack. Kagemune picked up a fallen spear from the bridge and tried throwing it into the creature, but his accuracy was not well-suited for flying invaders.

The Nazgûl was making his turn for a third time, and right then Eugen grabbed Asuna by the arm. "Rally the survivors and get them into the lower ruins of the city. We'll need them to hold a garrison on our end of the bridge tonight."

"Got it!" Asuna never hesitated and jumped up to run back towards the western city. She also grabbed Kagemune by the back of his collar and had him follow. "Make sure the wounded get out alive!"

"Wha-!? Agh, I'm on it!" Kage started sprinting faster and faster to rally the fallen up and down the steps, and Asuna was busy collecting the able-bodied soldiers for a trip down below.

"Hurry up! We need everyone down below for a short period of time!" Asuna tried counting them just out of curiosity for the later defense, but then one of them kept looking back a crossed the bridge.

"Milady…they're coming."

"They're what?" Asuna turned to follow his words, and just then she could see a wall of orcs running right over the bridge with Eugene standing alone to defend them.

Asuna growled to herself for a moment and shook herself ready for a run, and just then she looked to Kage who was carrying a man down the steps. "Do we have any explosive experts?"

Kage put the man down on a rock for support and began looking around. "Gtacs is here from ALO also, he's our best mage from the Salamander army. He might have a few fire spells that transferred over."

Asuna nodded and called out to the back side of town for this soldier, and just then a portly man with a beard and head full of red spikey hair came running out with a black and white mage's cloak.

"Sorry, I was holding out an attack on the river." He tried to come forth with a defense.

"Forget that!" Asuna franticlly replied. "We need the bridge blown up on my mark!"

"The bridge?!" He said. "But we'll need that to get an army a crossed the river later on!"

Asuna shook her head. "Well right now they're bringing there's up the bridge. We have boats for the army later, but for now just follow my lead."

He nervously nodded and took several guardsmen to follow him under the bridge. Asuna in return charged back up the steps and ran to re-meet Eugene.

When she arrived to the bridge Asuna noticed the fell beast had Eugen pinned to the ground, but just then he stuck its foot with his sword and caused it to fly back in pain and release him at the same time.

He looked healthy enough, and appeared to hold no visible wounds. Asuna nodded to herself and ran ahead to help him once more. She pulled out _Lambent Light_ , and just as the dragon-like creature flew in to attack Eugene, Asuna passed him by and stuck the creature right between the eyes.

The monster cried out in utter pain that could only be described as a dying mule, and the horrible smell that came from its wounded face could not be rivaled by any substance in the game. Then the beast crash landed at the back end of the bridge and held up the advancing orc army at the same time.

Eugene tried to collect his breath and turned to find Asuna with her sword drawn and ready for battle. He then laughed and shook his head. "Well damn, you might be more of a man than Kirito."

Asuna took the compliment, but tried to stay focused. "Thanks, but this isn't over yet."

"I'll say…I hope you know how to kill one of those things." He made the eerie remark just as the beast layed dead, and quickly enough a black shadow rosed from the center of the corpse holding a jagged grey steel sword and a trail of mist behind it.

Asuna took a great big gulp and clutched up on her sword just as Eugene collapsed to hold on to his sore sides. She then held _Lambent Light_ high and spoke softly into her mind.

 _"_ _Okay…please don't let this on be Kirito."_

* * *

 **Well looks like Asuna found Eugene, and she also found a Ringwraith. Let's hope it's not her beloved best friend...**

 **New chapter tomorrow!**


	34. 34: The White City

**Author's Note: Here's number 34! I had A LOT of fun writing this one. Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._ **

* * *

Chapter Thirty Four

The White City

 _"Even as Pippin gazed in wonder the walls passed from looming grey to white, blushing faintly in the dawn; and suddenly the sun climbed over the eastern shadow and sent forth a shaft that smote the face of the City."_

― J.R.R. Tolkien, the _Lord of the Rings_

* * *

Asuna lifted her slender fencing foil to block an incoming slice from the Nazgûl's blade. The dark steel owned by the Ringwraith was longer and better suited for brute combat, but Asuna did have speed and endurance on her side.

She rolled back and forth trying to dodge the attacks, but also kept the fiend away from Eugene who was slowly re-gaining his breath after having his waist strangled by the claws of the fell beast. Asuna jumped up and poked her sword right for the face of the wraith, but the monster swung its well-armored arm and simply pushed her frail blade away.

"Geeze!" She out cried. "I can't fight these things like something from SAO. They're too well-suited for combat!"

"Of course they are!" Eugene yelled back. "They're not NPCs, remember?"

Asuna remembered fully after hearing that reminder. The Nine Nazgûl of Sauron were no ordinary foes, but instead were possessed players by the will of the Rings of Power fit for corrupt men. Kirito was one of these players, but Asuna completely forgot the other 8 were also trapped beside him.

The swordswoman could now tell this one wasn't Kirito, it wasn't that good, but she still had to think quickly if she wished to get out alive. Right now that Gondor mage, Gtacs was ready to blow this bridge sky high on her order, but she needed to get her and Eugene off of it first.

The Ringwraith brought its sword down for another strike, but then summoned a short black but deadly mace in its left hand, and began swinging the violent club to try and knock her on the ground.

Asuna blocked the sword but back flipped onto more rocks far behind her. She tried collecting her breath and waited for the shadow to come closer.

Then she did it, with _Lambent Light_ in her hands, Asuna tried re-creating her quick speed combo from SAO.

She began with three short thrusts into the wraith's chest, which provoked it to raise its guard up and begin slashing with its mace. Although her following three thrusts didn't deal much damage, the shear number of hits and their speed was vastly overwhelming. Afterwards, the three thrusts were joined by two low-cut slashes at the target's now undefended legs, because it was too busy wailing on the open air with its mace.

Finally, Asuna performed two strong jabs both high and low, and followed it all up by a final strong stab at the target's chest.

She pulled back and let the wind and light collect from her sword, and watched as the Nazgûl twitched with pain all over its body, but then it planted its feet firmly into the ground and re-raised its arms.

That is until Eugene came in and stabbed it right in the leg with his small dagger. The series of hits Asuna performed did a fair bit of damage, but the shock into the lower leg by Eugne was just enough to force the monster's horrible screaming voice to shatter the ears of everyone around them.

Asuna then noticed that Eugene was yelling out as well, and looked to find that he dropped his dagger and held a now smoking left hand in pain. She sheathed her rapier and grabbed him under the healthy arm, and because his legs were fine he propped himself up and followed her off the bridge.

Finally Asuna yelled out to the end of the bridge, and just then Eugene turned to find the center erupt with a flash of red and orange flames, followed by a shock wave of flying debris. They both stopped to collect their balance, and noticed a now black shadow writhing in pain in the splashing Anduin, but just then it turned into a small streak of black magic, and sailed back to the grey mountains in the east.

Eugene let out a sigh and laughed. "Well that's the most damage we've ever done to one of those bastards. I don't think we can kill them, but we're getting closer."

Asuna nodded and continued to breathe heavily after the run. She then spoke up. "W-why did my attacks not backfire on me, but yours did?"

Eugene looked down to his still injured left hand. He then shook his head. "Well they say men can't do true damage to the Nazgûl. It's some sort of curse…"

He then turned to walk away, but gave Asuna a glance. "You're not a man, are ya?"

Asuna collected that thought, but wasn't convinced as Eugene continued to walk away from the bridge, but just then he yelled out once more. "Come on. We'll let the garrison hold out for the night. I need to report this to the Steward, and we need to get you registered."

Asuna nodded, and then turned to follow, but as she did, she coud see a magnificent white monument in the background just above Eugene's shoulders. Her eyes lit up at the sight just at the foot of the hill, but it was all still too far away, and a good portion of that Rammas Echor wall was blocking the lower fields of the region.

In any case, Lightning Flash Asuna left the rest of the assault to the other commanders, and followed Eugene to their next destination.

* * *

Now we find ourselves in the heart of horse country, and just as the sun was taking the mid-day, the capital of Rohan, Edoras, was preparing for their next chapter in the war to come.

Here in the Hall of Meduseld, we find a war council consisting of Silica, Sinon, Leafa, and Recon. They had just earned total victory over the rebelling forces of Isengard, and now unified their host as much as they could in the lower hills of Rohan.

Silica sat at the end of a long table with her friends and several NPCs as they discussed their next move. Recon was the first to speak. "So do we have any idea where the others are?"

Sinon shrugged. "I saw Chrysheight east of Rohan not too long ago. He's heading back down to meet Asuna in Gondor. I also know Lisbeth and Agil won, and they said as soon as they were ready they'd take an army down the river and join us before we went in."

Recon responded. "So when should we meet them…?"

No one answered. The hall fell silent, and the NPCs were starting to grow uncomfortable.

Finally Leafa sighed and stood from her chair. "Is there a reason we haven't gone yet?"

Everyone turned to the end of the table, where the small but noble Silica sat with concern. "They're not ready…"

 _~Weeks Back in Rivendell_

 _Silica prepared the night before her journey to join her fellow friends on their voyage down south to Rohan, but just before she went to finish, a knock fell upon her door._

 _"_ _U-Um, who is it?" She frantically replied trying to make sure her armor looked official for a soldier. As she opened the door, she was greeted by the blue glow of Chrysheight the resident Wizard._

 _He smiled and gave her a tip of his hat. "A fine lady, fit for the army of Rohan."_

 _Silica cracked an unconfident smile and moved to let him pass. "If you're here to tell me something about the mission, you might wanna go talk with Leafa or Sinon instead. I think they'll be better off leading our group."_

 _"_ _No no, this has nothing to do with the group at large." He assured her with a grin. "This relates to the Kingdom of Rohan."_

 _Silica took a great big gulp and nodded. "Okay then…what is it?"_

 _Chrysheight continued. "When you eventually reach Rohan, your task will be gathering the army, just like we promised, but as we mentioned the army will mainly be for helping Gondor and attacking Mordor in the south."_

 _"_ _Right." She replied. "That's what we were told in the meeting."_

 _Chrysheight nodded. "However everyone will be scattered, and they will all have different degrees of difficulty with trying to stay communicated with one another. You however have an advantage…"_

 _He then swiped his hand a sent up a glowing blue map, and then narrowed the vison right on Rohan and the White Mountains. "The Kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan are old allies, and some consider them to even be in the same realm altogether. Therefore it is important for their societies to have some form of communication with one another. The GM for MEO has disabled regular player chat, but we still have in-game options to relay messages." He pointed to a series of mountains that ran from Gondor all the way west to central Rohan._

 _"_ _They're the Beacons of Gondor. The beacons are two series of permanently manned stations maintained by the lord of Minas Tirith for raising the alarm in northern and southern Gondor respectively. The stations are on the summits of foothills in the White Mountains, and they keep signal fires in readiness to send for aid. For our purpose in the north, we will only follow that line, but if you look to the White Mountains south of Edoras, the moment one of them ignites with a beacon flame, you must be ready to send you armies."_

 _"_ _Wow…" Silica said with nervous weight now pressing on her shoulders. "Will Asuna know when to ask for help? What if she beats me to her station, and the beacons light before I reach Rohan?"_

 _Chrysheight shook his head. "Trust me, her journey is going to take a longer time."_

 _~Back to Edoras_

"They're supposed to light beacons from Gondor, and when we see ours light up on the mountains, then we're ready for war."

Everyone took that into consideration, except for all the NPCs of Rohan who smiled and nodded.

Leafa sat back down. "I get it…well that makes sense. Sorry, i-it's just hard thinking about sitting here doing nothing while everyone else moves on."

They all nodded, but then noticed Leafa pulling out a balled up cloth from her inventory, and then sat it on the table with a thud that sounded like metal or stone.

"What's that?" Sinon asked with curiosity. It looked like a round ball of sorts, only it had to be made of marble, stone, or steel with a sound like that.

"Something we can use to kill the time…"

Leafa never said anything after that until she pulled off the cloth, and revealed the obscure glassy stone that was colored dark black. In the center there appeared to be grey clouds and a tiny hint of orange, but at that time everyone stood to see it closer with their own eyes.

"It says it's a _Palantír_ , or I guess it's a seeing stone?" Leafa assumed with uncertainty.

Sinon raised an eyebrow. "You got that from Sigurd's tower, didn't you? I saw it in his throne room under that cloth."

Leafa nodded. "I think this is how he stayed in communication with Annatar? I don't know exactly…it's really creepy."

They all stood around and watched it with great fear and uncertainty, but just as things grew quiet a glow starting coming off the circumference of the sphere, and a great noise took the air of the mess hall.

All the council members lowered their heads frantically as the ball lit up like fire, and just then a darting eye sealed with flames and shadow took view through the ball, and quickly began cycling its gaze throughout the room.

No one could raised their heads above the table because the flaming heat was far too intense, but just so Leafa was trying to reach it with the cloth.

Then Sinon drew her bow and shot a blind arrow over the table. The tip did not scuff the ball, but allowed it to roll towards Leafa and land onto the cloth that she held out like a hammock.

Then she covered it up and tied the knot, and quickly threw the safe object back onto the table. This allowed everyone to raise their heads back up and take a long breath.

"Well…" Recon sighed. "I vote we destroy that thing. Wanna give it another shot, Sinon?"

"No." Leafa replied. "I feel like we'll need this thing later on…after all I think that was Sauron, and if so we now have a view into his world."

* * *

Now we return to Asuna and a company of several Gondor officers following Eugene on the back road away from Osgiliath into the capital regions of the realm. She stayed silent for most of the journey, and simply decided to listen to Eugene's stories of defense in the fallen city to their backs.

His campaign sounded rather noble, and for that she was very thankful.

"So you and your brother just decided to leave the Salamanders in ALO and come here to fight? All for Kirito?"

"Leave 'em? Hah, not on their own lives." He said with a smile. "Those idiots all followed us in here. It'll stink because all those Sylphs will probably take our good mining spots, but who needs them now anyway with this beauty of a game."

Asuna couldn't believe her ears. She knew Kagemune and Gtacs were from ALO, but she had no idea a whole army of Salamanders converted their avatars into the game to take up arms for Kirito, and in Gondor along the front lines no less.

It made her smile, and warmth quickly filled her heart. "Eugene I…thank you. He'd do the same for you, I just know he would."

"Yea, well I'm not letting some rich wanna-be gamer take the only guy who's ever beaten me in a fight out of ALO. If anyone's gonna take that Spriggan down it'll be me."

Asuna rolled her eyes and softly laughed. She then widened them to look as they passed under the great gates of the Rammas Echor, the outer wall guarding the crownlands of Gondor, also known as the Fields of Pelennor.

She would have made more comments, but now straight ahead, her eyes were about to fall out of their pits once Asuna gained full sight of the sanctuary before her very view. It shined like a white star made of rock, and the glistening mountains over its head lit off the sun in an equal ounce of radiance.

It was the City of Kings, and the Tower of the Sun and Guard. _Minas Tirith_ , capital of Gondor.

Minas Tirith was surrounded by the Rammas Echor and the Pelennor Fields from all sides, but the fields seemed to hold more land in the northern section of the plains. The city itself lay on a hill beneath Mount Mindolluin, which rose above the city's Citadel by a length of a couple thousand feet. Mount Mindolluin was impressive alone, but appeared even more magnificent with the city on white sitting at its knees.

"I've never seen anything like it…" Even as Asuna passed closer the walls changed from a shadowy grey to further white, their glow complimenting the sun's warmth and light. Yes the castle Aincrad and the World Tree of ALfheim were both impressive in their own rights, but there was some unknown glow surrounding this jewel of a city that made it one of the most impressive virtual sights Asuna had ever seen in her life as a player.

Eugene nodded as their host approached the nearing gates. "Yep, she's a beaut. Minas Tirith. It means "Tower of the Guard", or something like that."

"I'll say…" Asuna was still bewildered by all the fortifications and defenses she spotted atop the walls, so much so she began to lose count.

The city was divided into seven one-hundred-foot high levels, each surrounded by white walls, with the lowest wall looking to be the most impressive in width. The gates connecting the upper levels did not lay behind one another in a line, but faced in different directions. A spur of rock, whose summit was level with the city's uppermost tier jutted out from the front of the city in an easterly direction, dividing all but the first level into two. The spur of rock has been described as being in the shape of the bow of a ship, except the top looked completely flattened. Each level was most likely scattered with many alleys, narrow passageways, and full-fledged houses, which were probably quite rare in the city from the looks of its glory.

They passed into the lower Pelennor and quickly approached the black gates of the city, and as they swung open Asuna was greeted by a solid white court yard and statue in the center, followed by the foot of the great stone blade that cut the city in half.

Then she followed Eugene in a swift ride to the left, where after several moments of passing through white brick streets they found a causeway leading up to the gate for the next level. This process had them in repetition as they stepped back and forth through gates and streets, each ascending them higher to the Citadel awaiting at the top.

Finally this route brought them right through the central spire of rock and into a ramp sprouting out on the top of the city, leaving them in sight of the Citadel and throne house of Gondor. The Citadel housed the Court of the Fountain and the Tower of Ecthelion, which brought the total height of the city to roughly 1000 feet. Before the Tower grew a dying White Tree in a court fountain, with four grass quadrants surrounding it in a circular garden. There were also the King's House, lodgings for the Steward, barracks for the Guard of the Citadel, and other buildings for guests and other workers.

Asuna used this as a sign to dismount her horse, and as the others did as well she noticed Eugene grabbed his helmet off his saddle. He didn't wear it in battle, but it appeared to look less pointy that then regular soldiers', and a few wings of command were carved into the steel on the visor as well.

Asuna followed Eugene passed the guard and the White Tree with beaming eyes, and then they approached the great black doors of the throne room. Eugene made no hesitation opening them up with one hand, and chose to hold his helmet with his injured left.

Inside the white throne room, rows of tall pillars, carved monoliths of black marble crowned with capitals exhibiting figures of beasts and leaves, upheld the vaulted ceiling of gold and flowing traceries. Flanking the pillars were spacious aisles lit by deep windows and between the pillars were tall statues of long-dead kings made of cold stone, illuminated only by small ounces of sun and torch-lit flames.

At the far end of the hall was a dais of many steps which supported a high throne with a white marble canopy shaped like a crowned helm. Behind this was the image of a flowering white tree set in gems. Upon the lowest step of the platform was an unadorned black chair, the seat of the Steward.

Here is where she saw a very tired and disheveled man sitting. To truth he barely qualified as a man by age, maybe in his early to mid-20s. His hair was brown and short with slight curls, and his outfit consisted of a modest but still noble black cloak and suit, trimmed with only white and specks of silver.

He sat with a long face and a slight hint of uncertainty in his eyes, and just then he looked to find his new visitors, which did not settle his seating in any case.

"Hail Klint Rojer…" Eugene said with a firm yet slightly sarcastic tone. "Lord and Steward of Gondor."

He then dropped to one knee, which prompted Asuna to awkwardly do the same. The young man sitting in the chair looked up, and right then Asuna felt an unhealthy chill fall over her skin.

 _"_ _T-that's Klint…"_ Asuna reminded herself in silence. _"He know's what happened to Kirito…he must know."_

Eugene stood and continued. "We come with report, and further council for the war to come. We also have new soldiers joining us from Pelargir to aid the fight in Osgiliath."

Klint turned slowly to look at Eugene with an apathetic gaze in his eyes. He raised both brows and sighed. "Is there reason you send yourself, the named defender of Osgiliath to gift me council? Would it not be better for your brother to show?"

Eugene shifted on his boots, but Asuna spoke first and with a sharp tongue. "Mortimer fell in battle, and has now left the game."

Klint turned to look at Asuna, and his demeanor changed from passive to almost alert and fearful. "You…I know who you are…"

"How unfortunate." Asuna snapped back. "Because I know who you are too, _Klint Rojer."_

Klint shifted backwards in his seat as Asuna stepped up on flight to hold her sword. "You took Kirito away from us! Where is he!?"

Klint pressed himself as far back in his small throne as he could, and just as Asuna stopped to look upon him with rage, he let a small ounce of tears form under his eyes.

"We were deceived…I was deceived…my company heads turned on me, and my volunteers…"

Asuna opened her eyes wider with an alert sense of sorrow, and just then Klint fell forward and placed his elbows on his knees, and held his head with his hands.

"And now I'm here fighting against them like some idiot…ready to fall for a game I helped create."

* * *

 **I love a lot of things about LOTR, but I'm always most fascinated by Gondor, and most of all Minas Tirith. It's really beautifully described in Tolkien's books, and even more stunning in Jackson's films. I waited a very long time to both write and release this chapter, because this is the part of the story that I truly get to mix my favorite Middle-Earth faction/kingdom with possibly my favorite SAO character.**

 **Also Klint is back!? Dayum he's been out since chapter 3 or something! I wonder what he has to say...by the way since we're 30+ chapters in, if anyone still doesn't know "Klint Rojer" is an anagram of "J R R Tolkien." That's where I got it from!**

 **New chapter tomorrow! It's gonna come out a LOT earlier than usual.**


	35. 35: Gondor Calls for Aid!

**Author's Note: Yikes! It's like 5:30 in the morning where I am! (Actually it's early in the evening two nights ago, but I pre-wrote this chapter intro lol...however it is being released very early on August 18th.)**

 **I'm awake so early because I begin my very first ever semester of student teaching! I'm both excited and nervous, but I have a feeling things will go well! In the mean time try and enjoy today's chapter for me!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Thirty Five

Gondor Calls for Aid!

 _"...And Rohan will answer. Muster the Rohirrim!"_

― Theoden, _The Return of the King_

* * *

Klint now looked like a nervous pile of skin and bones as he sat atop his lowly throne of Stewardship. He was looking off into the distance as his elbows brushed his knees, and all Asuna and Eugene could do was bite their tongues and let his anxiety exhaust.

"I had no idea what happened. We took the group through Mirkwood, then some crazy shit happened near Dol-Guldur, and all of a sudden I wake up back inside Tokyo."

Asuna took all of this with a large amount of weight, and barely noticed Klint was fading in and out of character. She stepped forward one more flight in advance. "Where's your address in Tokyo? Where were you guys playing the game from!?"

Klint turned and looked her right in the eye, and told her everything he had. "I'm sorry…but I woke up alone. The other chambers were completely gone when I came to…"

"…When my AmuSphere turned off, the other 9 guys, Kirito, they were all gone. I called the GM, and a few others, but they had nothing for me."

He stood up and raced behind his throne to begin pacing. "I went to my apartment and rebooted my game from there, but I was no longer in Mirkwood. I was in Gondor. I was trapped inside the City. It wouldn't let me leave or send PMS to anyone, or system messages. I tried logging out and scheduling a trip to America to see what was happening in the company, but I never received confirmation for a meeting."

Asuna let go of her sword handle and stepped up in a slower motion. "Okay...and then what?"

Klint sighed. "After a while I kept logging back on to MEO to see if it was fixed, but then I was met with news that the game was open for players. I freaked out the same thing was going to happen all over again, but then I met Eugene and Mortimer. I also heard you and the others had successfully killed Smaug and unlocked the demo, which was probably the reason the company opened the game up for others to join."

"I tried to invoke a few commands from an admin's position, but I realized my title was only as a Steward of Gondor, not as its King."

Asuna shook her head. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Klint snapped back to look her in the eye. "EVERYTHING!"

The voice echoed as Asuna stepped back down a step, and this time Eugene held a hand on his sword.

Klint continued. "I have more powers depending on my rank! Those monsters in the company put me here for a reason. They all took bad guy roles, Sauron, Saruman, the orcs up in Gundabad…all the volunteers took roles as villains, but I got stuck with the Steward of Gondor? It made no sense!"

"Right…" Asuna sighed. "That is strange."

Klint took a deep breath and slowly returned to his throne. He then propped his hands over the armrests and returned to the regular conversation. "Anyway I have a lot more I can tell you, but I need time to synthesize it all. For now just follow Eugene and he can show you to a new residence."

"Well Sir, that's why we're here."

Klint turned his view towards Eugene, and the large Gondor captain continued. "When my brother died he gave up his seal of power to Asuna. Now she holds in, and in right by the game's code she should become…"

"Oh no." Klint stopped him there. "Mortimer had only the right to nominate his successor, but I receive final say. Your brother…he was very reliable in this fight so far…" He scanned Eugene with a weary expression. "But for now I'll grant his powers to you…if you return to Osgiliath and liberate it in full."

"B-But Sir? I will need more men to do that, and what about Asuna?"

Klint leaned back to re-gain comfort in his chair. "I'll supply only what I can, but count yourself lucky I don't consider this reckless abandonment. That front should never lose sight of its general, you could have sent a letter with Miss Asuna…which leads me to the next issue."

Klint changed his gaze to not lie on Asuna's eyes, but instead her neckline, and the chain that hung around it. "Asuna, you have no role of commander in this army. You're role is far greater here."

She tensed up her fists in a slight fit of insult, but then stood weary expecting him to ask for a sight of the Ring.

Klint sat forward with a now eager and intrigued look in his eye. He then waved his hand. "I'll need time to collect my thoughts for that as well. Now please…leave me."

Eugene gave the Steward a confused but slightly dirty look, but bowed none the less. Asuna's expression could have been better described as nervous, but they both left the same.

However one last request slipped into Asuna's mind to send her turning around. "WAIT! I have one more thing!"

Klint had now stood up and was talking with a guard, but turned to find Asuna walking back in. Eugene looked shocked, but never left the front of the room to follow after her.

Asuna looked Klint back in his eyes. "My friends are probably ready in Rohan. We'll need their men to win this war."

"And risk assault from that lunatic Sigurd? I think not!" Klint had no idea that Sigurd and Isengard were now defeated, or he at least showed now sight of resident knowledge.

He then waved her away yet again. "When I have some confirmation on the defeat of our other enemies, we will call for their aid."

"B-But…!" Asuna's fiery temper was starting to come out again, but now Eugene had walked back to get her, and he pulled her back towards the door and made their exit official.

"Come on, we'll talk about that later."

* * *

After several moments of re-evaluating her things, Asuna was now given a sleeping quarter inside the side hall of the Citadel. Her room was very large and even held an open view of the Anduin.

However that was one of the smaller ounces of change to her new life in Gondor. With a new room came new equipment, like armor. Asuna's outfit had changed considerably now, but in a way it almost felt familiar.

She looked just like she once did in Sword Art Online. It was almost as if her command outfit from her final days in the Knights of the Blood Oath had come back to life, only there had been slight modifications to its detail. For example the white was all still there, but every piece that showed off as red was now pitch black. It also replaced the bright yellow trim on her arm cuffs with a semi-darker color of metallic gold. Finally there were also no crosses of crimson red, but instead the outfit was dotted with black Trees of Gondor to symbolize her new status in the White Army.

She felt comfortable in a familiar outfit, but still uncomfortable at the same time. Her sheath for _Lambent Light_ had also changed from red to black, and now things were starting to look funny in her eyes.

"Wow this is like a weird flash back of SAO…" She walked into her bed chamber and sat down on the bed. She thought about pulling Yui out, but decided to try and earn a moment of individual quiet instead.

"Man…that Klint kid is a real case and a half…" She held a hand over her forehead and tried leaning back, but in reality that was too convenient of a resting moment for her to get away with.

Then the door made several knocks, followed by Eugene's voice. "Hey, hurry up in there! I need to debrief ya if you're gonna be hanging around the Citadel!"

"Ugh…right now?" Asuna held her head low and lazily sat up like a reanimated zombie as she slowly passed her way to the door.

Finally she shuffled her feet to open the door, and then Eugene gave her a quick grin. "Just thought you'd wanna send those friends of yours a welcoming gift."

"What?" Asuna held her head up. "You don't mean to…?"

"Missy I don't know how to put this, but we really don't have anymore options or time at this point. Are you in or out?"

Asuna gave him a quick grin, and nodded as she shut the door behind her. "Of course, just show me where to go."

 _~Several moments later, high in the mountains hanging over the city._

"We had to come all the way up here!?" Asuna whispered as she and Eugene passed through the tall tower carved into the mountain to try and reach the beacon pit above the city.

Eugene shook his head. "Man you sure are noisier than Kirito…look just follow me and don't fall off. This outpost doesn't exactly have guard rails."

Asuna hated his blunt honesty, but took it as a good sign of trust. She followed him up the spiral staircase regardless and they finally made it right to the door.

"Now, you and I are gonna keep these boys distracted by briefing them on some new mission. Then one of my boys hiding down in the city is going to fire a flame arrow up and catch the sticks on fire."

"That's ridiculous." She retorted in quiet. "The best archer I know can only shoot at 300 feet max, and she uses a magic bow!"

"Yea? We-hell I can't wait to see if this works then…" Eugene raised an eyebrow and walked in without a second thought. Asuna face-palmed and walked with him either way.

They stepped out to greet two now nervous soldier who held their arms up in salutes, to which Eugene and Asuna proudly responded.

"At ease." Eugene replied. "We just came up here to give you guys a little lesson on what to do if Osgiliath falls."

"What?" The first nervous guard responded. "There's a chance it's gonna fall!?"

"Dude!?" His friend looked right at him. "Haven't you seen the movies?! It totally gets wrecked!"

"Ahehe…" Asuna sighed and laughed at the same time. "So you guy's aren't NPCs?"

"NO!" They both yelled in response. The second one then crossed his arms. "More importantly we're not foot soldiers, we're beacon guards. If we see an army we light the beacons…it's our only job."

"Well sounds like you guys are Grade-A employees." Eugene said with sarcasm.

The second guard stepped up. "Yea…so what else should we be expected to know?"

Asuna was now nervous, but just then she noticed all the flame arrows now being fired were nowhere close to the tower.

However, that was far in the back of her mind as she now looked to an even more ridiculous sight. She never even noticed it, but the little virtual aid Yui, and her in-game daughter, had escaped her necklace at some point in the moment and began walking towards the beacons.

 _"_ _How did she get out?!"_ Asuna felt like she was going to vomit, and Eugene looked down at her with uncertain eyes. He then realized what was happening and tried taking control of the situation.

"Well first things first you'll cut the sass when talking to your COs. Next you'll be lucky you're stuck up here on this shitty rock, because while you're both up here enjoying your mountain top date, the real men down in the city will be fighting and most likely dying to defend it and save the game."

Asuna would have smiled at his snarky response, but she was frantically keeping an eye on the little daredevil who was now standing on top of the pile of wood. She tried reaching for the torch that sat on top of it, but barely missed it each time with her hands.

Asuna's heart was pounding at this point, and now the flaming arrows from below were getting closer and closer. _"Oh my god."_ She thought. _"Yui's gonna burn!"_

She was so close to being right, because just as one arrow lowered in its flight, Yui swiped the bucket of fire and oil just enough to drip down onto the sticks and stepped back to watch the scene blaze with glory.

She then turned to the door an gave her mother a cheery wave and smile as she faded into a blue light, which means she was now safely returning to her glass necklace around Asuna's neck.

Asuna let out a sigh just as the two guards turned to find their stack of lumber burning into a pile of gorging flames. They both panicked and ran around frantically, but just as Eugene directed Asuna towards the door he stopped and admired the scene.

"Wow, with that kind of fuck up, you boys might just see the battlefield after all."

Meanwhile down inside the Halls of the Citadel, Klint Rojer peaked through his windows to watch the tiny girl in blue light the flames. He rolled his eyes and sighed as he lowered himself back to the seats in the hall, and the turned to his closest guard.

"Bring me a pen and paper. I have a letter I'd like delivered to Lady Asuna's room."

* * *

Now we trace the path of the lighting embers atop the peaks of the Ered Nimrais. The northern posts that held beacons were slowly being lit by flame, each one after the other with fog and clouds surrounding them all.

Listed from nearest to Minas Tirith to nearest Rohan, were Amon Dîn, Eilenach, Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad and Amon Anwar (or Halifirien as the local Men of Rohan would call it). They all passed up in red and orange glows, but even more so they were also joined by a blooming in-game cursor, one that depicted a glowing red arrow that sat overhead of the fire, to better amplify the message.

The flaming beacons took flight over the White Mountains, and soon enough they reached their mark down near the fields of Edoras, and in sight of the golden Hall of Meduseld.

Luckily enough, Sinon was sitting outside the hall taking several practice shots over the walls and hills and into the evening light. She just turned her eye to find a flicker of whipped flame and a glowing red arrow adorning the top of the horizon in the south.

The Greenwood archer settled her bow back into her quiver and ran for the door, quickly busting them open with all the force in her arms.

"The Beacons are light! Gondor needs our help!"

She ran up the foyer steps and into the greater sanctum on the hall where she finally gathered a stronger breath and smiled.

"It's Asuna…she's reached Gondor…and she needs our help."

All the men and women who were present, including Leafa and Recon stood and sat in silence.

Then every eye turned to look on the small rider in a green coat, and blonde pigtails tied with red bows as she gave them all a quick word in response.

"Well…don't just stand there! We gotta help them!"

* * *

 **Well that was dramatic! Asuna and Klint had a little odd chemistry there, and the northern allies are on the move! New chapter tomorrow!**


	36. 36: A Shadow over Men

**Author's Note: Hello again! Here's Friday's chapter, it's a reeeeeeaaaaally important one, so enjoy!**

 **Also I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Thirty Six

A Shadow over Men

 _"He is seeking it, seeking it, all his thought is bent on it. The Ring yearns to go home, to return to the hand of its Master. They are one, the Ring and the Dark Lord."_

― Gandalf, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

"Yui I can't believe you did that! You almost got hurt out there!"

Asuna began scolding her little virtual daughter inside her large and luxurious sleeping quarters at the spur of the Gondor Citadel. She was yelling at her for recklessly leaving her glass necklace and sneaking past the guards to ignite the flames for the beacons.

Yui delivered a cute and cheery smile. "Awe, relax mommy, I can't get hurt in-game, remember?"

Asuna sighed and fell over on the bed right next to Yui, she then rolled over and sat up. "That's not the…ugh. How did you sneak out without me knowing anyway?"

"Easy!" She smiled. "I can changed my size! You all were talking about that battle, so I just slipped out and went over to get the job done."

Asuna bit her tongue and remained silent, which left Yui to continue. "Plus you said it yourself, those arrow guys were never going to hit the pile of wood. We needed to light the beacon in order to alert the others where we are."

Asuna sighed. "I know, that's what we were doing." She then reached over and hugged Yui's head. "Just tell me next time you plan on doing something like that. We're already missing Kirito, we don't need you gone too."

Yui looked up to Asuna with great big eyes. She then nodded in her mother's embrace. "Alright…I'll be better next time."

"Sounds good." Asuna said, finally revealing a smile.

 _*Knock* *Knock*_

"Oh that's probably Eugene. Go ahead and head back inside your bottle, Yui. I'm probably going back down to Osgiliath for another battle."

"Okay…" Yui hated the fact that Asuna just spent this conversation scolding her for being reckless, and now she was going out to fight another battle. Either way she nodded and returned into a blue light inside the phial.

Asuna straightened the skirt on her armor and stood from the bed. She then opened the door to find a winged-helmet tower guard with a letter in his hand, but no Eugene.

"What? What's this?" She asked, and without an answer the quiet sentinel handed her the note and walked back down the hall.

 _"_ _Asuna Yuuki. I sent General Eugene back to Osgiliath for the evening defense of the city. I also ask that you please join me in the Merethrond Great Hall for an evening meal and discussion no later than sunset._

 _I look forward to your arrival."_

 _~Klint_

Asuna crumbed up the paper and threw it against the wall. She then sighed. "This is absolutely ridiculous…ugh, I hope Eugene can handle the city without me."

* * *

Now we find that very General Eugene making his early evening patrol of Osgiliath. No word of another attack had been made since Eugene and Asuna left for the capital, and now things were starting to become both peaceful and suspicious.

 _Very_ suspicious.

Eugene quickly located his second men Kagemune and Gtacs up atop a rampart tower over looking a rather early foggy river. They tried their best and peering through the water, but nothing came to vision.

"No signs of an attack ever since you left, General." Kage reaffirmed as he kept his gaze out on the water. "It's been quiet ever since."

"Very true." Gtacs confirmed. "We sent scouts out along both ends of the Western City, but nothing has been reported back."

Eugene took there messages, but made no haste in replying. He instead joined their looking party out over the river, and then finally released his thoughts.

"So now we're sitting ducks without that bridge…hah, I can't tell if it was a good idea or not."

"With all due respect sir, I believe Lady Asuna saved the company." Gtacs said with a bit of fear in his voice as he looked out on the fog. "She had a good plan."

"I guess so." Even Kagemune spoke up on the idea to blow the bridge. "She knew it was more valuable to them than it was to us, that's pretty good work for a newby commander."

Eugene nodded. "Aye, that's true. Well, let's keep a weather eye open tonight, after all we're the only thing standing between Gondor and Mordor at this point, and I…"

"Sirs!" One Gondor soldier ran up behind them whispering with frantic volume. "The River! It's on fire!"

Gtacs and Kage both turned to the soldier with equally bizarre expressions, but Eugene kept his eyes right on the river.

It wasn't on fire, per say, but there were tiny hints of torch light coming out of the murky fog. He knew this had to be the enemy host, and now it appeared that they had boats on there side.

"Well…" Eugene turned. "It's not on fire, but it probably will be here in a few minutes." He drew his sword and looked them all in the eye. "Quick, down to the river."

They followed, and re-joined the small but alert task force of Gondor soldiers that was still stationed there along the Anduin. Each man feared for his life, and as they tried hiding along columns near the river, the approaching boat host of Mordor was growing ever closer with the tide.

Eugene stood ready behind his ruined column with his great long sword in hand. It looked like it could be bigger than an orc depending on the measurement. The air was cold, but Eugene held fire in his veins as the host moved onto the western shores.

The orcs came right in and marched off their barges in great ranks with terrible noises, but just before the first one's foot crossed the mark, Eugene stabbed it right through the neck and sent it to the ground.

"WITH ME!" Eugene cried out, and just then the rest of the silver Gondor force emerged with weapons ready as they matched the orcs in open combat. The Gondorians were well-armored and held better arms, but the orcs swarmed off their boats in far too many numbers to hold. Their armies were quickly overwhelming the sentinels with each landing boat, and just then Eugene heard a crack up above, followed by falling wood.

"Ah fuck…they're fixing the hole in the bridge!"

Several men tried following that up, but were instantly shot the moment they tried stepping up. Eugene could at least count the number from the ships, but he had no idea how many were coming from the bridge.

"Men! Follow me up to defend the bridge!"

"Yes Sir!" His loyal soldiers all killed their nearest foes and went in line to follow their commander into a continued battle. Eugene marched up the steps with a great host at his back, and met the orc leaders with swift combat followed by their demise. He cut threw many orcs that evening, but as soon as he emerged from the bridge steps and made it to the highway road, he was greeted by more shadow and doubt.

Nazgûl. Not one or two, but _nine_ it total. Their winged fell beast were dotting the skies like a pack of vultures, reeking havoc by flying low and taking out all the unfortunate Gondor tower guards and open soldiers.

One was not flying however, but he was landed on the bridge. He had also dismounted his steed, and gave Eugene a quick glance before gliding forward. Eventually the General of Gondor could make out the cursor and avatar name tag floating above his head.

"The Witch-king" is what it read. He was the fabled Witch-king of Angmar, and the Lord of the Nazgûl. He was known in Middle-Earth lore to be the deadliest servant of the Dark Lord, and also his greatest and chiefest strategizer in times of war. He lost his dominion of Angmar years back, but now he ruled from a green and shadowy tower in the Morgul Vale.

Also, like the other Nazgûl, he was depicted as a humanoid figure shrouded in a hooded black robe and shadow, with his only distinguishing feature being a mask-like spiked helmet with a huge mouth, symbolized as his crown.

Finally, he held a great chain mace in one hand, and with the other was the black swordsman's fabled weapon, the _Elucidator_. This was him alright, the best swordsman the virtual world had ever seen, and he was completely consumed by shadow.

"Well well well…" Eugene cracked a smile and spun his blade around for a brief moment before advancing. "This must be him. Good ta see ya again, _Kirito._ "

* * *

A crossed the fields of Pelennor we now find the court at the Citadel ready for the evening to end. Asuna Yuuki was walking through the halls of the upper Minas Tirith as she made way for her banquet meal with the Steward.

She was also properly dressed for the occasion. She now wore an all black, off the shoulder gown, and the sleeves came down to her wrists. It was trimmed with white, and little specks of silver dotted its velvet finish. Finally, a tiny embroidered White Tree was encrusted with diamonds at the chest, which made her look like a true queen or princess of Gondor.

But Asuna was neither. She was a soldier, fighting in a war, trying to save the one she loved.

She had no wish or business attending this meeting, and as a result loathed every thought of eating with this man. She did not wish him any ill-will, but as far as she was concerned he was the reason her Kirito was missing, and she still had questions that needed answered.

Asuna finally made it to the great mess hall of the Citadel, and noticed it was only filled with a great table, white walls with black columns, and several guardsmen dotted around the room. Klint was also seated at the head of the table, but a single chair to his right was already pulled out for Asuna to join him.

"My Lady, you look stunning tonight." Kint said without standing up. "Please join me."

Asuna gave him a half nod, but nothing more as she took her seat and join him in the meal.

Klint grinned. "I can tell you don't want to be here…I respect you for it. You're beginning to grow impatient I take it, with all these practicalities and what not." He began pouring them both glasses of red wine, and then slid her a now full cup.

"But they are necessary, that much I can assure you. We need to organize this game if we ever want to crack it, and we will crack it eventually."

"Sounds good." Asuna took a very tiny sip of her wine, and started nibbling on her meal.

Klint raised an eyebrow. "Well Kirito and I did share conversations in our early journey. He told me you're quite the chef. I probably could have asked you to prepare our meal tonight!"

Asuna looked him in the eye. "Sorry, but I'm not like Kirito. I'm a bit more selective with loaning out my skills for others."

Klint raised his glass and chuckled. "Touché. He also said you're quite the fighter. He told me you served as a commander inside SAO?"

"Yes, actually I did." She confirmed. "Which is why I volunteered my skills to the Gondor faction at Osgiliath, before I was invited to dinner."

Klint took a long pause as she looked his way, and then lowered his head. "Asuna…I do not wish to hold a negative energy between the two of us…I feel ashamed for what I did to Kirito, and I'll need help correcting my mistakes."

Asuna shifted in her chair, but then saw a tiny hint of sorrow in his eyes. "Mgh…I mean it wasn't all your fault. I…the others, we should have never let him go in alone."

Klint shook his head. "None of this is your fault I will tell you right now…but I will sit here and thank you for going ahead and lighting that beacon off today."

"Agh!?" Asuna was startled by his blunt remark. "O-Oh…well gee thanks."

Klint smiled. "That little girl…it was Yui right? She was so funny. She joined Kirito for a short while on our trip. You could tell she was close to him."

"Yea…she pretty much looks to him as a father figure."

Klint nodded. "Anyway I was wrong. Sigurd and his forces were crushed by an army out of Lothlórien not too long ago. A sorceress elf by the name of Leafa? Anyway she earned her victory, and while she did an army of Rohan warriors held off his main force in a separate attack on Helm's Deep."

"Really!?" Asuna had heard nothing from the others since she left from Rivendell, but that little bit made her finally smile with ease. "And any news on the dwarves?"

"Oh the Erebor dwarves? Yes their new leader, they call her the 'Iron Hammer?' Anyway she defeated the armies at Mount Gundabad, and now they seem to be on their way as well."

"Lis…" Asuna laughed at the sound of 'the Iron Hammer.' "So silly…well this is all one great big relief."

Klint nodded. "I'm glad it is. I was also told she would be bringing us a new weapon."

"Oh right!" Asuna remembered exactly why Chrysheight had left her originally. "A friend of mine went up to retrieve the Sword of _Narsil_ for you. I believe it's been renamed…anyway it's said to make its weilder King of Gondor."

"And I hope it does." Klint tipped his glass. He then noticed his meal was almost gone, and Asuna didn't appear to be hungry. "Hey let's take a break, shall we? I wanna show you something in the throne room."

Asuna took a quick breath of confusion before Klint held out a hand. Her cheeks flushed with red due to the attention, but she tried to hold it back to keep from becoming embarrassed.

Klint laughed at the remark and took her by the hand anyway, and then walked her out the back hallway exit and into a side door leading off into the great throne room from a day before.

Then he took her to a statue on the near left corner, and had her admire it for a few moments. "You recognize the sword at his hilt?"

"Yea…" She had to narrow her vision to return her memory. "It's _Narsil_!"

"Yep." He smiled back. "That sword is the legendary weapon of the Kings of Gondor. In the story of the _Lord of the Rings_ its owner took it as his weapon during a great battle inside Mordor, and together with a host of men and elves, the commanders united under one Last Alliance."

"Wow." Asuna looked awestruck as she admired the statue. "Who did they fight back then?"

"Sauron." He said with a lowly voice. "He had just deceived half the world with all the rings, and _the One_ , and was ready to take full control of Middle-Earth. Then the two armies met at the foot of Mount Doom, and long story short the King died."

"What?!" Asuna shrieked. "That's horrible!"

"Hah, ah but that wasn't it!" He reaffirmed. "His son, the Prince Isildur, he took up the broken shards of his fathers's sword, and cut the One Ring from the fingers of the Dark Lord, forever crippling him and defeating him in battle."

"Oh…" Asuna nodded. "That makes perfect sense. That's the weapon used to combat the Ring."

"In a way yes, and all of Mordor. The GM designed the game so that the One Ring would give evil players something to fight with, and he gave the good guys swords like _Narsil_ to even out the field."

"Yea…" Asuna sighed with a painful heart. "Until he put a mind control bug in the Ring and turned it into a nasty weapon for himself."

"…" Klint had no true comment for that. Instead he let out a breath.

"Asuna…I can imagine that Ring is pretty heavy this far into the journey. Has it been affecting you? Like mentally?"

Asuna began rubbing her arms in a self comforting position and turned away. "I-It kinda has, yea…I've been having these terrible nightmares, and this throbbing headache every time I wake up. I'm also worried it's given me a bad temper, and it might start affecting Yui."

Klint shook his head. "Nah, it only has the power to hurt the owner, because it only listens to Sauron. It won't hurt anyone who isn't wearing it."

A silence filled the large, echoy hall for a brief instant, until Asuna turned a slight degree towards Klint.

"D-Do you want to see it?"

"What!?" Klint sounded shocked by her blunt question. "B-but…no I don't want to be rude!"

Asuna shook her head. "Heck you seem to know more about it than I do…I just jumped up like some idiot and volunteered to take it. I probably have no business carrying it anyhow…"

She reached down into her dress and pulled out the bottom of her chain necklace, revealing the tiny yet sinister Ring at the end. She dropped it to let it settle in front of her chest, but now gave Klint a full view of its glow.

Klint paused for a moment as his eyes grew twice as big, and they seemed to look void of all emotion. He stepped towards her for a moment until Asuna charged forward and wrapped her arms around him.

 _"_ _*Sob*_ …Klint _…*Sob*…_ What if I don't see him again? I…* _Sob*_ …I just want him back…"

Klint had no idea how to react at first, and then gently lowered his hands to pat her on the back. Asuna continued to cry into his shoulders, and Klint looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression.

"It's okay Asuna…I'm sure you'll see him again eventually." He tried to comfort her with any kind of saying, just to keep her crying down.

Asuna leaned back and wiped away a tear. "Really?" She choked a bit on her words. "You do?"

"Yes…" He then turned and looked towards the darker half the room. "But I'm afraid he'll still try to kill you either way."

"…what?"

Asuna had little time to think between asking her question and feeling a sharp sting of pain take her left abdomine. She let out a shriek of horror as the blade dug deeper, and just then Klint leaned in and grabbed a lock of her flowing brown hair.

"Well, that fool Suguō was right about one thing. You are far too pretty for someone like Kirito."

Asuna tensed up her jaw, and slowly looked down to find another _Morgul Blade_ stuck in her old wound. She then turned to look Klint in the eye. "I knew it…you were hiding something all along."

"Not something." He grinned. "Everything."

Klint placed his left hand on Asuna's shoulder and shoved her away and into the column to her back. She held the Morgul Blade in her fall, but it only gave Klint time to rip the flowing chain around her neck clean off.

He discarded the useless necklace and held the golden band up into a dim bit of torch light.

"My One Ring…My _precious_ has returned." He had a sarcastic chuckle tagged on the end.

"AGH!" Asuna threw the Morgul Blade at Klint and yelled back. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"ME?!" Klint argued back. "What the hell is wrong with _society_!? All I ever wanted was to re-create the World of Tolkien into my own image, and to live amongst its characters and creatures…but I wasn't allowed to think like that, or else everyone would call me a _nerd_."

"Oh god…" Asuna thought to herself as she remembered how many times Lisbeth and Leafa made fun of Annatar. It then fully clicked in her mind as Klint was still ogling his new treasure.

"You're him…you were him all along…the GM never put you in Gondor…you _are_ the GM. You're…"

"The Dark Lord Sauron, apparently?" He gave her another quick grin. "Funny thing you can do using two avatars…Annatar was fun, but I prefer my regular Klint one now."

He turned to continue. "I planted myself as the ruler of this world, but in the lore of Middle-Earth, only one character had every right to claim full dominion over this land, so I had no choice but to personify the Lord of Mordor himself. I unified myself with the greatest game makers in the business, and I broke that hack Sugō out of jail just to utilize his mind control technology. He claimed he was 80% complete of perfection, so I decided to finish the remaining 20%."

Asuna let a tear fall from her eye. "You're a monster…you took Kirito away from me."

"HAH!" He laughed, now turning his back on her. "That idiot's lucky I named him my second in command! All these other fools have been looking to stab my back or turn me into a corpse…and that ingrate Chrysheight who lied to me. He was supposed to be a trusty adviser…but he took the Ring and hid it away with some silly command. He could have probably taken it for himself!"

 _*SLAM*_

Both Klint and Asuna turned to the front of the throne room to find Chrysheight the Blue standing there entering into the hall. He held his illuminated staff in one hand, and a now fully drawn _Glamdring_ in the other.

"Klint Rojer. We've finally revealed who you really are."

Klint rolled his eyes and finally put on his Ring. Instantly his height seemed to inflate just a tiny bit, but his manna and Hp bars doubled in size. He also summoned a wicked looking mace of pure Morgul Steel, and swung it one time in the direction of the Blue Wizard.

Instantly Chrysheight lost all footing, and some of the mighty winds even tipped Asuna over onto her side as a great force came out of the mace and slammed into the defiant blue mage.

Klitn raised and eyebrow. "You idiots have lost. I have the Ring. Sauron was _NEVER_ meant to get a hold of the Ring!"

"AGH!" Asuna drew a hidden dagger from her ankle and went into stab Klint, but he smacked her with the mace and slammed her into the column once again.

He rolled his eyes. "I knew you didn't get stabbed by my Morgul Blade… _mithril_ I presume? You probably have it on under your dress."

He then stepped up higher on the throne room stage and yelled out loud. "I'll go ahead and continue this little game, don't think I won't. My armies have just breached Osgilaith, and a force three times its size is currently in wait back behind the Mountains of Mordor. I'll let you all fight me, just because it keeps me in a good mood, but don't think for one second you'll walk away victorious. At any rate you'll all be 'loyal employees' sooner or later. After all…" He turned to give Asuna one last sarcastic grin.

"According to the lot of you, I have the best swordsman the game has every seen on my side."

Then in a great flash of force and shadow Klint teleported out of Gondor and back to the fiery lands of Mordor.

Chrysheight stood and ran right for an injured Asuna, who was still holding her side.

"Was he right? Did you not get stabbed?"

"Agh…no. I'm good." She lifted up a tear in her dress to reveal her mithril tunic underneath. "But he got me in my old wound. It's still bruising so it kinda hurt initially."

"…" Chrysheight sat back and sighed. He then took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry Asuna. I'm sorry I was late…the army of Mordor is coming for us."

Asuna had no idea how to collect the scene. She wanted to rip her hair and her heart out at the same time.

Finally, she tried standing, but only by his slight help. "Well looks like our guys will need a pretty good wizard to lead them, because according to Klint, Kirito is leading the enemy…I won't go out there and fight someone I love."

* * *

 **Well the f*cker was two-timing her the whole time. Man he's either an idiot or really deranged for keeping them in this thing!**

 **New chapter Monday!**


	37. 37: The Battle for Minas Tirith

**Author's Note: Geeze, we're here already!? It feels like I wrote these chapters yesterday! The Gondor bits really came up quick! We left off with Klint revealing himself as the GM and true player behind "Sauron", and Asuna refuses to fight in the war to come.**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Thirty Seven

The Battle for Minas Tirith

 _"I do not know what strength is in my blood, but I swear to you I will not let the White City fall, nor our people fail."_

—Aragorn, _The Fellowship of the Ring._

* * *

It was the early afternoon on the next day. One could hardly tell though just by looking at the sky, for it was now covered in a thick veil of black and grey fog. The servants of Mordor do not appreciate the light of day, and for that their Dark Lord sent them with a covering shroud to block out the tasteless sunlight, leaving them to perform well in battle.

The Men of Gondor did not possess strong wills either. Most were NPCs programmed to recite the tales of grief and sorrow that poison this lowly realm of men, while the others were scared players who transferred over from _ALfheim Online_ , only now they were missing one of their greatest commanders.

No one knows exactly what happened to Eugene, but there has not been a single sound of his voice or presence since he left to defend Osgiliath. Now the hordes of hell and flame were well passed the Anduin, and had recently breached the Rammas Echor only to completely envelope the Pelennor Fields and march their hosts right to the outer walls of the previously shining White City.

And Asuna Yuuki, the once proud commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, is left sitting alone in the empty throne room of Minas Tirith. Her head hangs low as she sits at the foot of a black column in the center of the hall, and her eyes are only met with the scuffed white brick and tile at the floor of the palace.

No guard is joining her, no friends surround her. The last bit of light left in the natural sky that pours through the windows of the great hall is the width of a pencil, and it is quickly replaced with blackened shadow. The torches illuminate the sides of the room, but not much can be said beyond the situation other than it is miserable and grey.

She's thinking. Asuna's mind has been racing for the entire morning, but words have yet to come out of her mouth. She had enough strength to get to her bedroom the night before, and somehow convinced herself to enter the throne room for a war council this morning.

However, after the quick break from the group, Asuna never followed the others out through the doors and into the defense of the city. Instead she stayed back, alone, sitting and thinking about everything that she could.

In part this was all because she blamed herself for being such a fool. She had no business letting Klint near the Ring until she got to know him better. She also had doubt in her heart for the victory of this war to side with her friends and allies. She also had fear, fear that she might actually have to join the war, and in part fight against her beloved Kirito.

For all she knew, Asuna was done with crying. She had released so many tears before falling asleep, and even more the moment she was left alone this morning she just assumed her tear ducts were dry. The pain still stung deep inside her heart though, and she really had no idea how to fix it.

She was too distracted for a second, she almost didn't hear the throne room doors open up to reveal Chrysheight the Blue Wizard, who was slowly walking towards her.

"Asuna…you're still here. "He looked sorry to walk in on her, but to be honest he half expected her to be back in her room by now.

The white knight of Gondor never really moved once the wizard walked in, which left him to carry on. "The Armies of Mordor will soon be in attacking range, heck they've practically covered up the entire Pelennor Field with their troops. It's getting pretty gloomy for our guys…"

Silence followed the trail of his remark, and left Asuna with long gap to respond.

"I'm not fighting him, Seijirō…I know Kirito is supposed to lead them, and I'm not going to fight him."

Chrysheight sighed, and turned back towards the door. "Ah, I see…"

He then removed his hat and scratched his head of long blue hair, and followed by replacing his hat back to where it was and then turned for the door to make his exit.

However, just before he passed through the threshold to re-join the guard on the outside, he swiped open his inventory, and drew a very long and impressive Gondor sword with a matte black scabbard.

"In case you change your mind." He set the weapon down by the door and propped it up on a wall. He then left the throne room and allowed two guards on the outside to shut the doors.

Asuna never turned to look at the sword, because not an ounce of temptation was left in her body. No amount of motivation, thrill, determination, conviction, or hope remained as she continued to sit with her arms wrapped around her knees and her forehead pressed against them.

Then it came, the tears re-joined their old acquaintance as Asuna started crying into her arms once more. She thought she was done, but apparently as long as pain existed in her chest, they would not leave.

Then she heard another voice from right beside her. "Mommy…why are you still crying?"

Asuna looked up with red and puffy eyes as she turned to find a very sad Yui standing right over her.

"Oh Yui…" She took a minute to wipe her eyes clean. "W-Wha…w-where did you come from?"

Yui lowered to her knees and put her hands around one of Asuna's arms. "I just came out of the necklace like I always do…I was hoping you were done being sad, but you're not…"

Asuna smiled, but then turned her head. "I'm sorry Yui…I just needed a little time away from it all…then I kind of just fell right here and the time ran away from me…"

Yui could almost feel herself begin to cry, because if there was anything in this world she hated seeing, it was her mommy or daddy looking disheartened.

"Are you upset about losing that Ring?" She asked in a soft voice as she began to sit down right next to her. "Cause if so…we won't need it."

Asuna shrugged. "I'm not even sure why I'm crying at this point." She wiped away the majority of the tears left and took a deep breath. "It was pretty stupid of me to let him see the Ring, but it's just that and…everything else."

She then looked down past her feet to the dusty floor of white and tan rock. "I don't think I can keep this up, Yui…I don't think I can keep playing inside this horrible world any longer."

Asuna enjoyed her sight seeing of the spectacular Middle-Earth scenery when she first began playing, and even after she knew Kirito was confirmed to be in danger, she tried to make the best of it by enjoying the world around her, but now it was too hard to keep convincing herself that any of it was still beautiful.

"I know…" Yui nodded with a low hanging head. "It's all just like SAO, or ALO. You shouldn't have to be here fighting to save daddy, or anyone else, and neither should I, or any of our friends…But we are."

She then tugged tighter on her virtual mother's arm and began resting her head on her shoulder. "Did daddy ever tell you about the first time he played ALO, when he went to save you from the World Tree?"

Asuna tried to gather all the mental comfort she could from having Yui right beside her, but cautiously shook her head in response.

Yui continued. "It was just like this for him. We both had a hard time ever wondering how we'd ever get up there and find you. The whole game fought him the entire way…all the players told him it was impossible to climb the tree…it was really dangerous, and really hard for daddy. While I was with him, I tried to never stop believing, but sometimes it was hard…I wanted to get you back so badly, but the world kept fighting us…But in the end, that doubt was only a passing phase, and in the end daddy finally saved you."

She then looked up right in Asuna's eyes. "And that's the same for this game too. Even darkness, and all these nasty bad guys, they're gonna pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shine after the battle, it'll be us and daddy enjoying it together back at our home in Aincrad."

Asuna's heart felt whole and heavy for a moment there, and just then newer, more pleasant tears started forming around her eyes.

Yui wasn't done though. "But I don't know, it's hard for me to explain…I think I do understand though. Daddy had lots of chances of turning back too, and even still he almost died trying to save you, only he didn't. He kept moving, he kept going, because in the end he was… _we_ were all holding on to something."

Asuna tried biting her lip to hold the tears, but she needed to make room for a reply. "W-What Yui… what were you and daddy holding onto?"

Yui turned back to Asuna and gave her a great big smile. "That there _is_ hope in this world...and it's _always_ worth fighting for."

Asuna had no more strength left in her facial muscles to hold back the tears, and just then she took both her arms and wrapped Yui up in the biggest hug she had ever received. Yui smiled back and gave her a hug in return, and as they tried embracing the moment for the short amount of time, they finally released.

"Okay…" Asuna wiped away her final tear and held up a fist. "I'm going out there to help Seijirō and the others…" She then turned her head towards the large royal sword sitting at the throne room door.

"And we're all gonna save Kirito together."

* * *

Now we find Chrysheight the Blue and several hundred Gondor city guardsmen standing on top of the outer wall of Minas Tirith as they look out to the shadowy view of the Pelennor Fields, and the view that was witnessed below the clouds could only be described as frightful.

The forces of Mordor had originally made their encampments far off away from the city, even out of range from its defenses, and while it also put the White City out of their own range, the Gondor soldiers did not use this as a time to laugh and mock their enemy.

The orcs and terrible creatures of Mordor began digging into the earth to create low standing trenches on the back lines of the field, and in a quick instant several masses of soldiers advanced forward to give the Gondor defense a nice fright. The artillery readied their ammo and quickly hurled long and high ammunition into the foggy air, and by some stroke of dark magic the will of Sauron was not contested, and the orc's fire made it all the way well passed the lower edge of Minas Tirith and into the city.

Chrysheight held up his staff to create his own shield of blue energy, which also protected several men around him. However, as he let the debris trickle off his magic, he quickly noticed the ammunition was no ordinary rock or explosive.

"THEY'RE PLAYER HEADS!" One Gondor soldier cried out in utter fear, and Chrysheight made sure to confirm this theory before he gave them any cause for concern.

"No, they are just NPC heads. Players' bodies disappear once they've been slain…" Still, even though he could prove these were not player deaths, he had to realize that the defensemen of Osgiliath did not make it out of their patrol alive.

In any case the outer walls and inner city guard began to quickly panic as the orcs and dark creatures continued to approach the city. Most tried abandoning their posts, but a good lot just froze in fear right on their feet. Chrysheight had a hard time figuring out why most of the NPCs were choosing to run away, because they of all people should have AI pre-set to help defend the city.

"This is bad…" He told himself. "Without a sturdy host of NPC guards, the regular players won't remain here to fight…and they're our best warriors." He then saw great balls of fire and smoke fly over head and into several large buildings on the second and third levels of the city, and even with all the cries of terror taking the air, the Blue Wizard needed to act.

"STAND YOUR GROUND!" He cried out, and quickly whipped his staff around to point over the railing. "Archers! Send your shots to the front lines. Swordsman, prepare yourselves for any attempts of a breach. Men at the catapults…!"

The soldiers in the guard who could hear his echoing cry all turned to collect every word he had to say.

"Send the rest of these monsters back to Klint."

The soldiers of Gondor nodded and let loose their catapult ammunition into the army of the enemy, and large boulders that were flung from the city walls smashed into great swarms of orcs and other beasts. Most could pivot along an axis, which allowed for better aim and accuracy, but a lot of the finer shots from inside the defense were usually granted to the archers on the front lines.

Still, while he seemed to successfully rally the players from ALfheim to help the defense, the NPCs leaving in slow but noticeable bulk seemed to bother him. He tried thinking of any commands or issues Eugene would have given them, but then dropped his jaw as soon as it hit his mind.

"Oh no… _Klint_ pre-programmed them to abandon the fight."

Chrysheight then noticed as more and more orcs made way for the city walls, more and more Gondor soldiers labeled as NPCs were fleeing for the southern ring of the city to try and retreat to the river. He tried running their way to collect a few before they made any jumps over the wall, but several large fiery boulders flew though and wiped out the railing and several defending men behind it.

He also looked through the now gaping hole and saw tall and menacing siege towers being rolled closer to the front wall by trolls, or powerful Mordor creatures known as Olog-hai.

Chrysheight had to turn up his shields and stay put, but he was running out of ideas as the great host of Mordor was ever approaching his walls and gates. He was known to be an intelligent man, but Seijirō Kikuoka was no military man by any means or definition.

However, he did have a very knowledgeable ally who was well-versed in this sort of art, and little did he know she was quickly joining his cuase.

"Return to the walls! Get up there and defend the city _NOW!"_

Chrysheight and all the back line Gondor players turned to look towards the stairs and noticed impressive lines of NPC guards were returning to the fight after their attemptive flee, and just before any of them grew too confused, a white horse with a well-armored rider rode up the steps and into the center of the wall.

She wore shining white plate armor with black steel chain mail underneath. She also wore well padded boots and a flowing black cape that held a White Tree of Gondor right at center to match the marking on her breastplate.

Finally, a tiny silver tiara seemed to adorn her head over her regular flowing brown hair, and latched to her horse's saddle was the great sword of Gondor re-forged from the Shards of Narsil, _Andúril—The Flame of the West._

Asuna Yuuki steadied her mount and road right beside Chrysheight with a determined expression. "You don't mind if I take it from here do you?"

The wizard laughed and gave her a quick bow after looking at her new headpiece. "Not at all…my _Queen_?"

Asuna rolled her eyes. "It came after I equipped the sword to my character…apparently it gives me full control over Gondor NPCs also!"

"Great to hear…" Chrysheight awkwardly smiled and tried dodging flaming debris coming off a tower beside them. "But right now we…"

"Right." She continued. "Hold on."

Asuna rode up to the archers and drew Andúril. She then pointed its great tip at the bottom of the war machines and siege towers. "Aim at the trolls and orcs moving the machines. We can't take destroy them, but we can at least slow them down."

Her men nodded and shot all their arrows right for the trolls and driver orcs, and as all the shots collected, they all realized the towers were all slowing down at one slow spead. This was great progress for the defenders, and just then Asuna coud ride over and give the center wall some advising.

"Aim under their helmets, right at their necks." She commanded the men who were currently shooting down at orcs ramming the gate. "They don't have armor there, and it's the only part of their body without plates."

The men of Gondor were stacking up a vast amount of enemy deaths with the help of Asuna, and as she continued to aid the men up front, she never neglected the artillery either.

"Turn all catapults to aim at the tops of every tower! Their construction is faulty the higher they go, and if we scrape the tops off they'll be too short to latch on!"

All the turrets in the central vicinity nodded and obeyed, and the others used visual cues to follow as well. They launched stone and some times fiery ammo right for the war machines to make sure they made no direct advancement into the city, which left a bright sign of positive light for all the defenders.

Victory was now looking like more than a tiny speck of light, but as the shadowy sky above turned to true night, real darkness would sprout out of the enemy host eventually.

* * *

Now, just north of the great Realm of Gondor, we come to find a large host of united forces meeting near the River Anduin. Here several thousand Riders of Rohan make their approach to their allies in the south, and with them they are accompanied by swarms of elves both from Lothlórien and the Woodland Realm. Finally, while the host alone is impressive, it is also joined in the back guard by slow but powerful huorns and ents from the great Fanghorn Forest.

At the center of several hills just beside the Anduin we find the leaders of Silica, Leafa, and Recon waiting for their next move. Instead of continuing straight south for the Pelennor Roads, this great army has decided to veer straight east and wait by the river.

"What are we doing?" Recon yelled impatiently as he tried to gather the rationale for this plan. "We need to keep going south to get to Minas Tirith! At leas that's what my map says."

Leafa rolled her eyes. "Recon calm down, or shut up…either way Silica knows what we're doing here."

Leafa then calmly lookd to her short friend. "You do know why we're here, right?"

Silica took a deep breath. "I mean it was mainly Sinon's word to stay here, but I have a feeling I know…"

"The scouts have returned!"

The three leaders looked to find Sinon riding from the southern vanguard of their army to bring word from several scouts around Gondor. "It is night time, but they said the field was pretty well-lit."

"And?" Leafa asked impatiently. "What are they saying?"

Sinon took off her hood and flipped it behind her head. "The orcs have the plains swarmed. They're lighting the lower levels of the city on fire, and they're getting closer to the gate."

"We're losing time…" Silica said with a sad expression. "I know we need to stay for a little bit, but we're wasting too much time."

"Hold on. "Sinon sighed. "I know the report sounds bad, but we do need a bigger army if we want to take them on. The follow up has the orcs at like 20,000, and right now we don't even have half that."

"20,000!?" Leafa yelled out. "How the hell do they keep breading those nasty things!? And how are we supposed to take on an army like that!?"

"Wait…" Silica ignored the bulk of the conversation as her eyes were still glued to the upstream end of the river, and just then a great line of brown and grey transports could be seen riding their way, followed by several large groups of mounted warriors on their side of the banks.

"Yanâd Durinul!" One great warrior yelled this from atop a tiny but fierce boar as he and hundreds of well-armored soldiers marched to join the great host of the west.

It was the Sons of Durin, and the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains. The great army that defeated Gundabad had rallied back at Erebor and taken their men down the river and into the battle of Gondor, and just as the great dwarves came into the encampment, two familiar faces road in on the only available horses in the entire army.

"We-hello gang!" A smiley and sarcastic Lisbeth chimed off with a wave of her hand. "How's everyone doing?"

Silica jumped up from her rock and ran over to greet them, and Leafa, Sinon, and Recon quickly followed. Agil road in behind Lisbeth and held up a hand.

"Y'all might wanna relax around Lis. The guards might not like you being so close to the _Iron Hammer_."

"The Iron Hammer?" Leafa covered her mouth to conceal a giggle, but Lisbeth seemed to take no offense.

"What? I don't see your little elves giving you a fancy nickname. Must mean they don't like you very much…"

Sinon rolled her eyes and jumped in. "Well, we're glad you guys are here. Now we need to get everyone together and make way for Gondor."

"Good idea. "Agil said as he looked up to the night's sky. "Well I guess we'll be riding by moonlight tonight. Better hope we don't get ambushed."

"Eh." Lisbeth said with a crafty swing of her mace. "We have like 10,000 combined soldiers…I like our chances."

Eveyrone continued to march southward except for Silica who sat back with a nervous expression. "Um guys…how exactly do we expect to move all these…"

"OY! There ain't NO WAY I'll be letting some damned woodland sprites beat _my_ hogs to Gondor! Son's of Durin! March with haste!"

The dwarves started out at the back of the group but quickly left their barges and charged southward to the vanguard position. Th elves seemed to roll their eyes, but they were not shying away from the competition as they too began to sprint and ride faster and faster.

Silica then watched all her friends and the two combined armies ride south like mad men until her army of 5,000 or so Rohirrim road up behind her. "Lady Silica, shall we join?"

"The argument?" Silica replied. "O-Oh the ride…erm…yea I guess we outta…"

And so Silica jumped utop her pale blue riding mare and quickly rallied the remaining troops, making way for the capital of Gondor, and the greatest fight of their lives.

* * *

 **Well the battle is pretty epic so far!**

 **Also, Did anyone recognize that touchy scene between Yui and Asuna...? I took a ton of inspiration from the Two Towers when Sam gives the speech of his life to Frodo in the end. It really helped me bring down the family moment hard, and I got to use a lot of soundtrack to help me write it. (The scene where Asuna is sitting alone in the throne room might be my favorite moment from the whole story.)**

 **That's another reason why this story might have been my favorite writing process so far from any of my stories. I had to listen to SOOOOO much Lord of the Rings music to write the story (and also some SAO songs too), and I really cannot express how much I love the soundtrack for these films. The first bit of this chapter I used the intro section from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring CR - 08. The Great Eye." (Available on Youtube, I only used like the first minute.) It really helped me capture just how alone Asuna was in the throne room before Yui showed up, and how sad of a moment it was for Gondor. I also used the theme "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers CR - 13. The Tales That Really Matter (Part 1/2)" for the scene with Yui and Asuna, because it's the same soundtrack they used in the Two Towers for the Sam speech to Frodo. It helped capture the warmth. However, if you find this like "unofficial medley" video on Youtube called "The Realm of Gondor" it really put all of it into a nutshell for this big Minas Tirith scene. Agh! So much good music!**

 **ANYWAY! The northern host is on its way, but I have a feeling they may be arriving a little too late...we'll find out tomorrow!**


	38. 38: Dual of two broken hearts

**Author's Note: Okay! I've got a reeeaaally good one for ya today! Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._ **

* * *

Chapter Thirty Eight

Dual of two Broken Hearts

 _"I'm not gonna die, got that? I can't die because...I have to protect you."_

—Asuna Yuuki, _Sword Art Online_

* * *

Asuna was leading the defense of Minas Tirith well into the unhealthy night. The blackness was growing with the combination of shadow, fog, and the time of day, and with it the fear of every man in Gondor was slowly rising.

However, for every torch or flame they saw in the sea of orcs before them, none were brighter than the one lighting the heart of their figurative queen, who was now patrolling the front lines of the wall to make sure all shots were making their marks.

"Keep arrows high! Leg shots on trolls won't do us any good…make sure those catapults are aimed right at the tips of the towers, and make sure they hit over top or right down the center." The battle was getting harder and harder to manage, and even her vice-commander Chrysheight was having a hard time keeping his lines in check.

"Asuna. The towers aren't taking enough damage from our shots!" He yelled out quickly as he looked her in the eye.

Asuna did a double-take to find two large towers were now looming right over the wall and were quickly preparing to board.

Then she held her longsword in hand and nodded. "Draw swords."

Chrysheight nodded and withdrew _Glamdring_ from its scabbard, and right away he turned his attention towards the tower on the far side of the gate. Asuna kept her focus on the near side tower, and right then she lowered her weapon with the bridge of the tower.

"LET NOTHING PASS INTO THE CITY!" The Blue Wizard charged forward with a line of Godor men holding great rectangle broad shields, and just as they drew longswords and pikes, the orc forces of Mordor poured onto the battered walls of Minas Tirith in overwhelming numbers. Asuna delivered several skilled kills to many orcs, but more swarms were picking up and driving the Gondor men back to the edge of the rampart.

Most of the archers stayed unaffected by the whole invasion to her luck, and without command they kept shooting at the swarms of orcs covering the great black gate to the city down below. There was now a great mound of orc flesh and armor sitting in front of the doors, and at this rate there was almost no chance the gates would be properly breached.

Then it came. A great monstrosity being dragged in by rams or other foul creatures was quickly being wheeled into the foregate of the city. Large Olog-hai trolls were pushing it into position, and in the center was a great hanging ram, fit as a wolf's head and a flaming mouth finished its depiction as a horrible weapon that would bring down anything in its path.

Asuna cleared out her flanking enemies before she gave it any attention, and just then she also heard loud screeching sounds coming form the back of the Mordor host. She then saw several large black fell beast flying into the battle, and many of them swung low and took out idle Gondor warriors standing on the walls.

Asuna weighed both threats, should she challenge the flying menace in the sky, or the key to their defeat down below? She then looked over to the south side of the main gate to find Chrysheight looking right at her.

"I'll take the wraiths! You take the ram!" She yelled over to her comrade in a quick haste.

"Sounds like a plan!" Chrysheight whistled for a moment and then greeted his all white legendary horse that was kept below a wall watch tower. He then gave it a buck and watch Asuna take the opposite exit off the wall and onto the upper levels of the city.

Now the blue wizard road like the wind as he rallied a great host of master swordsmen to his back, and right when he approached the black gate he could already see the chains and wood shaking from the outer assault.

Chrysheight tried calming his exaggerated breathing but then looked to his men, who each looked more frightened than the last. He then re-drew _Glamdring_ and stared down the gate.

"You're all defenders of Gondor, and this city. You've taken up arms to help Asuna, and you all wish to see Kirito make it out of this game alive…show them you mean it."

They all swallowed their pride and fear and each drew swords and spears, and a line of archers took the back of the courtyard in preparation of anything to come.

Chrysheight held his staff higher and lit off a spark of blue light. "No matter what passes through that gate you will all stand your ground and show no mercy!"

 _*SLAM!*_

The wooden shrapnel filled the air with fire and the clinking sound of the chains as the gate slammed open and broke way for the enemy host to pass. All the Gondor men prepared themselves for the worst to come, but they never imagined anything quite so terrible.

In he rode, the dreadful _Lord of the Nazgûl_. A great black shape against the fires of his magic he loomed high, grown to a vast menace of despair. In came his armies to follow, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all allies fled and cowered before his face.

"I will _NOT_ let you into this city!" Chrysheight made his demands, though he wondered even to himself whether they would be respected.

The Witch-king fatefully, and rather _easily,_ marched into Minas Tirith from atop his mighty fell beast, but he was quickly confronted by Chrysheight on his white steed. The Blue Wizard forbade his entry, but in a quick flash of arrogance, the Witch-king laughed and put on a show of power.

From the dark nothingness that hid behind his steel helmet, the commander of the enemy laughed in shadow. "Fools...This is my hour."

Chrysheight tilted his head and sighed. "Eh…that's quite the new voice you've got there Kirito…if that really is you in there." His skin crawled just thinking about it, but even the blue flames in his staff did not halt the Morgul Lord's progression.

He spoke again. "Don't you know Death when you see it? Die now…or become cursed in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword, and orange flames ran down the blade, wrapping it in a cloak of sacred fire.

Chrysheight held up his staff and tried to counter the black magic from Kirito's sword, but the shock wave that followed his flames and booming voice shattered the wooden staff into many shards of splintering crumbs.

Chrysheight still held _Glamdring_ , but he was quickly losing faith in his men now that the black captain had entered the court yard. The looming lord of shadow went to speak again with heavy words of death and despair, but just then he looked to the skies, and noticed his second and third Nazgûl had lost control of their mounts.

More honestly, they were shot in the necks from high atop the Citadel, just over the great flat stone that cut the city in two. The Witch-king angrily held his sword in his gloved hand, and then raised the reins of his beast high.

"I'll let the hordes take you…" And just as he flew up, the swarms of orcs and trolls followed from behind, leaving Chrysheight to raise his sword in a warcry, and his valiant men of Gondor to follow.

Meanwhile, just seconds ago atop the Citadel flat stone yard, Asuna held two spears in each hand, but quickly shot them through the necks of two approaching fell beasts, which left them to turn about towards the fields and land safely in the orc armies.

Asuna took a deep sigh and held the sword _Andúril_ in her left hand still cloaked in its sheath, and just as she took her exhale, a black dragon of dread floated into view from down below.

Asuna turned part of her glance away from the White Tree to her back and now fully addressed the menace before her. She closed her eyes and made a silent prayer as she readied her mind and body for the fight to come. In the mean time the Witch-king made no hesitation in making his presence known to the shortcoming queen, and he landed his beast on the ground and gave her a fair warning.

"This city is mine. Leave it, or die."

Asuna never wavered, her will remained strong even with the surrounding black and shadow accompanying her enemy. She held the full sword by the top of the scabbard in her left hand and continued to look the menace in his supposed eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere…you and I are going to settle this."

The black beast lifted his reins and let his flying mount rear its head with a fell shriek of its voice, and then followed after with another confrontation, but this time it was rather irregular.

Instead, the Witch-king pulled up his own inventory, and then summoned a sizable silver great sword form the Realm of Gondor, just like the one Eugene carried.

He tossed it out in front of his beast and let it smash into the ground, which left Asuna to stare at it with a silent voice and heavy eyes. He spoke again afterwords.

"This world will fall. The world of Fairies will fall…any who oppose this will die."

Asuna rolled her eyes and put her foot down. "KIRITO! I know it's you in there! Please! Stop saying stuff like that!"

The Witch-king made no recognition of that name and marched his fell beast forward. "Do not stand between me and victory. I will watch that Tree burn, and the city along with it."

"Then you'll just have to burn with it." Asuna drew her longsword and tossed the scabbard. She lunged forward and powered on an unknown red sword skill and immediately charged for the beast's neck, and gave it a swift chop which decapitated it whole, leaving it to die and its master to fall.

Asuna carried on after collecting her breath. "I'm saving Kirito, and whatever _you_ are…I'm going to finish you once and for all."

Asuna picked the tip of her sword off the ground, but stood in a less courageous manor as the fell beast withered and died, but as it did, a small spiral of black shadow flickered around its back, and up came the Witch-king ready to strike.

In one hand he held a black Morgul Steel blade of the Nazgûl, and in his other was a long and menacing black mace that looked to weigh more than Asuna's whole body and armor combined.

Her eyes lit up but never flickered in fear, though her body did stutter in its own wake of terror. She held _Andúril_ with a bold resilience, and with her free left hand she snapped open her inventory screen, and summoned a large, black rectangular broad shield with the Tree of Gondor depicted on the front.

She choked up on the handle of her great sword and charged her opponent, and he provided a quick counter by lifting his off hand and sending the great chain mace flying right towards her, which forced her to ditch her attack and jump for her life.

Asuna rolled while dropping her shield, but quickly picked it back up just in time to block the mace that came crashing down from the sky. She knocked it away, and felt a sharp bruse on her arm afterwords, and then stood again to reaffirm her stance.

In a quick pace she stutter-stepped forward and charged up her weapon for another sword skill, this one was called the _Will of Gondor._ It glowed white and sent a straight beam of light right for the chest of the Witch King, but as he shifted his stance, his sword deflected the attack and knocked her's out of position.

Asuna quickly wedged her shield in front of her body and took another hardy blow from the mace, which caused her to fly back a few feet without touching the ground, and then once she landed back to the earth she took a sigh of composure.

"Ah-hahh…yea…this is Kirito alright." She could not doubt this player's sword fighting abilities by any means. The only person in her entire life that gave her this much frustration in her time as a fighter was Yuuki, and her good companion Kirito was not far off from her level of skill.

Asuna collected both thought and breath as the mighty Lord of the Nazgûl returned another shot for her body, and this time she tried hitting the chain with her sword. The Witch-king had a bizarre reaction to that gesture by letting off his swing a bit and pulling back his follow through attack.

Asuna blinked a few times before she remembered he had a sword as well, though she quickly blocked that attack with her great shield, however as the blade smashed against the safeguard, the figure in black gave her another remark.

"You fight like that General I killed at Osgiliath. He had strength, but I had more power…"

"AGH!" Asuna held up her shield in a fit of rage. "SNAP OUT OF IT! KIRITO WOULD NEVER SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

The black foe with a wicked metal mask looked her right in the face overtop her shield. "Do you not know death when you see it, girl? This is my hour!"

He began to lift his other hand with the handle of the mace, and Asuna just got a glimpse of this action in the corner of her vision. She shoved off from her shield and spiraled around to block the second attack, but as she did a spike in the mace sank deep within the lower edge of her shield.

Asuna used that as a step in the next direction. She powered on her great sword _Andúril_ for its third and final sword skill—the _Flame of the West._

Just like the Witch-king's blade taking the form of fire in the courtyard, Asuna's sword of Gondor lit up with a magnificent golden flame as she held it high. She then brought it down like a great battle ax and smashed it into the chain of the mace, shattering the metal link into several pieces and breaking the great weapon once and for all.

She tossed her now heavy shield and met the Witch-king's sword with _Andúril_ , but because he was better with this weapon, he managed to get some better leverage on her attack. He swung his blade around and in a quick instant both swordsmen lost their weapons to the periphery of the battlefield.

Then Asuna took a long and deep breath as her lungs felt like they were about to burst. The Witch-king looked at his empty right gauntlet and then turned to give his shining opponent what was most likely a scowl behind his blackened face.

Then both duelists opened their inventories, and out they came. _Lambent Light_ and the black sword _Elucidator_ emerged onto the field and took the hands of their owners.

Asuna unclipped the strap on her chest plate, which caused it to fall to her ankles, and now she was wearing her regular, light-armor command outfit from before. She then spun around her rapier with pure comfort like it was a part of her flesh and then charged her enemy with a flurry of attacks.

"AGHHHH!" Asune made no room for quarter as she tried landing death defying blows to his chest and face, but the quick paced Nazgûl Lord was just as fast, if not faster. He knew every move she'd make before it came, and even laid in his own attacks form time to time.

Asuna would try and retreat from each confrontation, and continue her powerful _Star Splash_ swordskill to do any damage she could against his armor, but no flurry of attack seemed to damage his great outer shell of black steel and shadow. She had never faced off against such a hardened opponent before, and when adding that with the same skill level and speed of Kirito, he truly made a formitable adversary.

But Asuna had resilience, she had conviction, and she had hope. The Lightning Flash Commander of Gondor was not about to wither away to some fake impersonation or puppeteered version of her best friend and partner, and she definitely wasn't going to let him beat her in a fight.

As the Witch-king came back in to close the gap, Asuna realized she had no other choice if she ever wanted to end this fight. She had charged up a fair amount of XP with light use of her sowrdskills, but now she had to unleash it all in the ultimate combo attack.

And so, she did just that.

It began with five consecutive stabs in a straight line from the top right to the bottom left, each of which positioned themselves somewhere on the Witch-king's chest. Asuna quickly drew her sword back and performed another five consecutive stabs in a straight line from the top left to the bottom right, perpendicular to the prior five. The two lines together formed an amethyst-colored X shape with their third hit overlapping, and this sent out an incredible shock wave right for the Ringwraith's chest once again.

Finally, Asuna tilted her body and used all the strength collected in her arms to perform a last second stab directly at the intersection of the cross-shape created by the former ten strikes, which finished the totally tally at 11, and executed the finest Original Sword Skill known to man—the _Mother's Rosario._

Asuna pulled back and watched a grey cloud of dust swirl around the air, and just as she looked passed the target, she began to notice the night' sky was starting to light up, though it was still slightly shaded with all the smoke rising in the air.

However, her eyes returned to the battle and were quickly greeted by doubt and confusion as the mighty Witch-king emerged completely unscathed and without injury.

"N-No…that was…that was my best sword skill…"

The Nazgûl Lord ignored her and smacked the sword out of her hand, and then butted her in the chest with the end of his _Elucidator_. He then watched her fly backwards into the back of the strairway entrance at the back center of the grounds, and then as she tried coughing up in pain, he slowly marched over and grabbed her by the collar.

Asuna took his hands and writhed around in anger as she smashed her fisted into his well-armored hands, parts of which left Asuna's knuckes bloodied and wounded.

She now had tears forming under her eyes, and her breath was running low as she had very little fire left in her veins. "AGH! PLEASE JUST STOP!"

She cried out with more anger and frustration as the Ringwraith just stood there and let her tire herself out. She sobbed uncontrollably for a short period before her arms began to feel weak and painful from the scars on her hands.

Then, she began to notice, the monster was once again producing black shadows just like he and his 8 companions did in Dol Guldur. The thick fog of evil took the air like poison, and left Asuna choking on more than her sorry tears.

"AGh…this…is dark magic…" She tried rationalizing it in her mind, but it really didn't matter as the energy in her bones and muscles was quickly being drained from her body. She began to feel tired and weak, and her mind was quickly beginning to slip, so much so she passed under to a different place for just barely an instant.

"I…I…" Asuna talked herself through the evil moment as her vision changed to black, and then, she was taken to a whole new world.

 _~ The Night before Kazuto Kirigaya left to play MEO_

Asuna felt like she was floating on a cloud. She had no real thought outside of her lazy dream that tried to steal her focus away, so as a result she just laid in her little moment undisturbed for as long as she could.

Then she felt a tiny dot poking her in the cheek. It started out as a curiosity, but now it was becoming more of a nuisance as it quickly distracted her from her slumber.

Then her eyes craked open to reveal a dimly lit bedroom, illuminated only by the light of a setting sun piercing through the window. The room lights were turned off, and there was a light shining in through the hallway underneath the crack of the door, but the scene inside the bedroom was quite calm and serene.

Then a voice spoke up. "Good morning sleepy."

Asuna blinked a few times before she recognized the voice as Kazuto's, and then felt her body begin to grow warm with nerves. "What?! It's morning?"

Kazuto laughed. "Nah, it's like 9:30 at night. I just wanted ta see ya freak out is all."

Asuna took a pillow from beside her head and smashed it into his face, which prompted him to hold his hands up in fear.

Afterwords she dropped the pillow and lifted her body up on one arm and rubbed her eyes open. "Eh…we're still in my room."

"I know. I'm kinda weirded out your parents haven't tried knocking or waking us up…I guess we dozed off after our little trip to the park."

"That's right…" Asuna softly smiled for a brief moment. "I knew this day wasn't just us sleeping here in a boring room." She then reached out and grabbed his hand. "I enjoyed that. I like it whenever we get to go out alone."

Kazuto nodded. "Yea me too. I-I mean, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's nice to escape everyone else's crazy attitudes."

Asuna giggled. "Nah, they're all fun, I think we can be the crazy ones in the group on more than one occasion too."

They sat in silence for a little bit and continued to hold each other's hands, but then Kazuto turned away to a darker half of the room.

"Well…I figured I should probably get going. I told the family I would be home by 8:00, and they're probably freaking out by now."

"I understand." Asuna gave him a smile, but never let go of his hand. "Hey listen…"

She took a long pause to make sure Kazuto was looking right at her, and then she continued.

"You start playing that game tomorrow, right?" She lowered her head back down to her pillow and waited for a response.

He nodded to let her continue speaking, but his eyes looked worried to hear what she had to say.

"When you beat the demo, or whatever this Klint kid wants you to do…you won't linger around in the game without me or the others, will you…?"

Kazuto used an ample amount of time to get his answer straight. He took a few blinks and then turned towards her and smiled, and as he did he leaned over and put his left hand under her right cheek.

"Asuna, the moment I'm finished playing through the demo, I'll come get you and the others. Then we'll play the real game together."

Asuna's face lit up with joy, and she instinctively reached up and placed her hand over top his. She looked him in the eyes for the longest time, until she began to notice his face grow darker and darker.

Kazuto then quit smiling and leaned in closer as he stiffened his left arm to get a firm hold of her cheek and jaw. He then lowered his hand down to her neck and began squeezing tighter and tighter.

Asuna's reaction went from blissful to horrified as she grabbed his arms and tried prying them away from her skin, and just then a cloud took over her room, and in a quick instant she was snapped back into the reality of the Minas Tirith Citadel as the Witch-king was still strangling her over the stone ground of the yard.

Asuna tried prying his hands away from her neck, but his grip was getting tighter and tighter. She could barely breathe at this point as her forehead began to turn blue and her eyes began to widen to large orbs.

Then as she reached around his metal gloves, she felt a bizarre lump around his left index finger, and as she traced it with the tips of her own she had no doubt in her mind that it had to be his very own Ring of Power, the very same one that was manipulating his mind in the first place.

Asuna tried swiping open her own inventory for a new weapon, but nothing was working as the strength in her arms was fading. It was almost coming to an end for the poor Gondor Commander until she lowered her right hand to the ground beside her, and felt the very edge of the handle from her old sword, _Andúril._

"A-gh!" She cried out realizing this was her only shot at life, and with all the strength in her bones she tried shifting her hands closer and closer to the large sword to deliver a surviving blow.

Then, as Asuna turned her head all the way to the right, she could see the sword was closer than she thought, but just as she went to stretch her arm out more, she heard a horrible screeching noise coming from the shadowy mouth of the Witch-king.

Asuna felt the grip on her neck slightly loosen, and then turned her head about the left side of her body to find her salvation did in fact come, albeit in the worst way imaginable.

Yui, the little sprite from her necklace, and virtual reality daughter from _Sword Art Online_ , had picked up her mother's fallen sword, _Lambent Light,_ and shoved it into the abdomine of the Witch-king, leaving him to yell out in pain from the piercing hit, and then turn his attention on the tiny little girl.

Her eyes were all puffy and red, and tears had taken over her face as she held the handle of the rapier longer and longer. "MOMMY! GET AWAY!"

Asuna felt her own tears form underneath her eyes, but then turned back towards the right to regain her composure, and by using all the strength left in her hand she reached out and grabbed _Andúril._

Without hesitation, Asuna followed the legend told to her by Klint in the throne room and grabbed the Witch-king by the wrist of his left hand, which was still loosely strangling Asuna's neck at this point. She then took her free hand and yanked his from her neck, and pried her great longsword in between the middle of their confrontation by taking its blade closest to the hilt, and swiping over his left fingers, cutting them from the rest of his hand and removing the black ring from his presence.

Asuna let go of the sword and fell back as the Lord of the Nazgûl shrieked with the worst sound known to man, and just as the sound hit a certain pitch her brain stung inside her head, and sent Asuna back into a deep passive sleep.

However, just as her head fell back, she noticed during the entire confrontation, a little sliver of the morning sun was now visible over the Witch-king's shoulders, but even with its golden radiance, she made out a glimpse of another fell beast landing behind them.

The sight was slightly depressing, but quickly changed to bizarre as she could have sworn Lisbeth and Silica jumped off its back and ran to her side, but all vision was lost as she finally fell to her stupor and laid her head back to rest.

* * *

 **Well that was heartbreaking...new chapter tomorrow.**


	39. 39: Salvation on Pelennor

**Author's Note: Agh, school started Monday, and I'm already tired of it...new chapter today though!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the **_**Lord of the Rings.** _

* * *

Chapter Thirty Nine

Salvation on Pelennor

 _"So, it is before the walls of Minas Tirith the doom of our time will be decided..."_

—Theoden, _Return of the King_

* * *

Returning back to right before Asuna and the Witch-King Kazuto locked blades in combat, Chrysheight the Blue was standing his ground in the middle of the Minas Tirith court yard defending the city gates from the hordes of hell that poured in through the Pelennor Fields.

His blade was strong, but he himself was growing weak. The fight with these orcs was taking its toll, and his confrontation with the Witch-King was still draining his magic power.

 _"_ _Great…"_ He thought to himself as he raised his sword to block another incoming blow. _"I can't keep this defense up long enough to save this city…"_

He looked around and found several players dying all along the city streets. Combinations of NPC soldiers and trained players from ALO were being slain by Sauron's forces. It was a sight so horrible, it was best left to the imagination. As he tried clearing himself some standing space, he turned towards the gate to find several dozens of orcs stampeding inside to kill everything in their path.

Chrysheight however had the unfortunate pleasure of standing right in the path of a fearsome Olog-hai troll, with thick Morgul Steel armor and a great big spiky club.

His eyes grew wide as he scanned this beast before him, and just then he lowered his blade and tried slashing out the ankles of the troll, which cause it to scream but then pivot into a position that protected more of his legs with armor.

The Blue Wizard tried hacking at the armor directly this time, but found himself meeting the other end of the troll's fist as he slammed the mage ito a wall of concrete and brick. Chrysheight fell down and began coughing up dust from the impact as he rolled over and saw the monster raising his club.

He closed his eyes and held up his sword with both hands to brace for impact, but just as the hammer came down, a great sounding war horn pierced the air with a sound of newcomers to the battlefield. It was so loud all the forces, good and evil, all stopped fighting to try and catch its song.

Then Chrysheight noticed most of the enemy forces, including his troll friend, left the fight and returned back out to the field to see what the noise was

As the massive army of orcs looked north east, they found the sun had finally began to rise. There atop the northern most hills they found a broken sector in the Rammas Echor wall, and a line of thousands of troops standing in wait after pouring into the Pelennor Fields and taking up their own position.

Here we come to find this foce just happens to be the alliance made from the northern allies. This mighty host was being led by friends of Kirito and Asuna, and they were ready to see this game come to and end and bring back their friend. As such, Leafa, Sinon, Recon, Agil, Lisbeth, and Silica all stood at the center of the mixed party looking out to see their opponents.

"What the…" Lisbeth said with hesitation as the city of white burned with smoke and flame. "This is even worse that I thought! There's way more than the army at Gundabad."

"No kidding." Sinon agreed. "This is even bigger than the army that attacked us at Helm's Deep."

Leafa froze with fear and uncertainty as well as she made her own judgement. "Sigurd really thought he could fight this by himself…he really was insane."

They were all beginning to panic, except for Agil, who had a slight grin on his face.

"Yea, they do look pretty nasty, but I think we have a plan…"

He wasn't referring to his own, but he did gesture the rest of the group's attention towards the forward-most commander in the group. Silica was out a few yards in front of them all eyeing the entire field, trying to break apart its strengths from its weaknesses.

She too had a little doubt in her heart, but the strength behind her made her feel ripe and ready for fighting.

As a result, the other started smiling as well, and Lisbeth spoke first yet again. "Well okay then, Silica looks ready, so I guess we should be too."

"Yep." Sinon grinned. "After all she did beat me in a little wager we had at Helm's Deep. Now she gets full control of the assault." Sinon honestly had no idea who won that friendly wager, though if one counted right it was probably Sinon with the quick power of her bow. However Silica did have more influential victories, including the final confrontation with the leader Rosalia.

Silica heard all this talking, and quickly took a deep breath before turning her pale blue steed around. "Okay…I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting pretty sick and tired of this game."

They all smirked and nodded in agreement, and let their rookie commander continue. "Sinon and Leafa, your elves can take the left side, and use their speed to clear out the back sides of the armies. Recon's tree guys can help once they've finished up at the river."

Recon quietly tried raising his hand to catch her attention. "Actually they're called huo…"

Leafa smacked him on the arm to make him shut up, and allowed Silica to carry on.

"Lisbeth, you and Agil take the dwarves on the right, and they can be the first to take back that city with their big machines."

She turned her horse around to face the front again, and then gave both groups of friends her nod.

They nodded back, and road to their command stations, which left the tiny horse lord officially in charge of her own army of Rohirrim.

She took a second deep breath and turned to face them again, only this time she drew her sword. "I know most of you didn't fight too long in Helm's Deep, and I know even more of you only recently joined up on our ride out of Rohan, but if any of you don't know me…my name is Silica, and I really need your help. Now more than ever."

All those closest to her in the group of several thousand riders laughed in support and amusement, because her name actually spread pretty quickly in the virtual land of Rohan.

"I know there are a lot of bad guys down there…and it looks like there's a lot more of them than there is on our side…but we no matter what, we need to charge through and take them all down. One by one."

"Aye." One man yelled in front. "I like the sound of that. Send all these monsters back ta hell where they belong!"

"AYE!" The entire core of the Rohirrim shouted back, and raised their pikes in response.

Silica smiled at their emotion and passion on the battle field, and as a result she raised her own sword. "Okay! We'll ride for Gondor, we'll ride for Rohan, we'll ride for all the players back in ALO!"

"We'll ride for the Black Knight!" One man who knew Silica well from the war councils shouted out in reference to Kirito. That made Silica smile the brightest, and then forced her to lower her voice.

"Yea…we'll fight for Kirito." Then she turned her steed for the final time, but before she rode off, the tiny horse master swiped open her inventory with her left hand and did one thing she never really did so far.

She equipped her very own helmet of Rohan. Although it covered up her trademark blonde pig tails, she wore the gilded helmet of the Mark with honor heading into this battle.

The men on the front lines cheered with a loud roar and valor as they raised their weapons in response. "AYE! WE FIGHT FOR LADY SILICA! MASTER HORSE LORD OF ROHAN!"

"AYE! FOR SILICA! FOR _ROHAN!"_

 _"_ _FOR ROHAN!"_

 _"_ _FOR ROHAN!"_

 _"_ _FOR ROHAN!"_

The Horns of Rohan blew loud again as Silica lowered her sword, and grabbed hold of her reins to begin the gallop of a lifetime. She charged forward, and led her forces into the lower levels of the fields with pride and conviction guiding her every march of the way.

A sea of charging Rohrric knights flooded behind her. Their horns were loud, and their war cries even louder. They never looked down to see an evil river of Mordor orcs from that point on. From their, the riders only saw their inevitable victory, or their valiant death at the back of a great commander.

Silica also began noticing that the other armies, elves to the left and dwarves to the right, were also beginning their march at the same time, and as a result she now had full confidence that she and her friends were going to win this battle.

Just then a cloud of raining arrows came in like a plague of death, but only about 1/4th of them hit a mark. The horses were going too fast at this point, and most of the soldiers were now holding up their shields to defend themselves.

Silica ignored it all, and as she raced forward faster and faster, she began to notice a wall of enemy pikes blocking the front of their armies.

Silica thought about slowing down in order to find a hole, but she began noticing the riders around her were all racing faster now more than ever. This caused her to shake her head and ride right with them, increasing speed more and more along the slopes of the field.

She could hear the orcs yelling out in anger and frustration with all their missed shots and failed plans, but now as her men approached the enemy more and more, she began to see the fear in their eyes, which filled her own with fire.

"AGH!" Silica raised her sword, and just then the wall of Rohirroc horses crashed against the hopeless line of orcs like water on stone. Her sword sliced through hundreds of orcs at this speed, and her men cut through their army like a giant wedge.

Ten thousand, twenty thousand, even thirty thousand. To the Rohirrim it made no difference. Their cause was decided, and they were set and feady to win this fight for Silica and her friends. Their horses trampled everything in their path.

Silica roped her horse around after a clearing was made from all the scattering orcs. She started looking around with a determined expression to see what all was unfolding.

The dwarves of Erebor and the Blue Mountains were sending their equipment down the close side of the Minas Tirith wall to take out the orcs marching inside the city, while the quick paced elves were running up the far side taking out the reserve forces. Meanwhile the Rohirric Knights were cutting through the core of the field like a knife in cake.

She pulled a spear from the ground and threw it at an oncoming orc, but just then she heard a terrible screeching noise fall from the sky, and as she and the men arund her looked up, a great big trio of dark fell beasts soared down and clawed at everything around them.

Silica ducked, and ran Pina the horse as far off as she could. Some of her men weren't so lucky, and as a result were picked from their mounts and tossed into the air. Others tried shooting them down with arrows or spears, but the beasts were far too mighty, and far too fast to die so easily.

Silica tried grabbing a second spear, but then missed as the winged beast coming at her was flying too fast. She launched herself off Pina to save her head, and then rolled back to her feet to try and regain her steed.

"Come on Pina! We gotta get you outta here!" She tried finding a nice spot on the field to take her horse, but the Pelennor lands were too flat and desolate to hide a horse.

Then, she heard several more screeching noises, and turned to find two beasts flying right for her and Pina. She reached down and found a knarled orc bow with one arrow, and poorly shot it flying over one of the dragon's wings.

Now clutching the reins of her horse, Silica stod beside Pina and hugged her neck, but then a whirly javelin projectile came from the right and found itself hitting the closest Fell Beast right in the neck, ruining its flight path and sending it to the ground.

Silica and the second black rider both looked on with awe, which gave the little Rohirric lady a nice chance to grab a spear and chuck it into the second rider's mount, causing it to crash land in a similar but less dangerous manor.

Silica turned to trace the path of the flying spear only to find a nearby host of Durin Dwarves all cheering, with Lisbeth grinning beside them.

"Man Silica, you are lucky I turned around to see those things."

Silica smiled and shook her head. "Yea, but just for the record I probably could have handled them by my…"

"SILICA!" Lisbeth tossed a throwing ax past her shoulder to find a Black Rider rising form shadow off the dead Fell Beast, and while the other flying monster seemed to be alive, it was still wounded and left time for its rider to join the other.

Lisbeth ran beside Silica with six or so dwarves behind her, all of which had arms drawn. Lisbeth even had her _Lightning Hammer Mjölnir_ that she received from Klein out and ready. Silica stood too with both _Sting_ and her _Ebon Dagger_ , and as they waited, a small cloud of grey covered their feet.

"Agh…" Lisbeth tried moving. "It's keeping me frozen to the ground!"

"Yea?" Silica replied with a worried expression, because she could move freely about the ground. She then noticed both wraiths moving closer with a black Morgul Sword each. She raised the _Ebon Dagger_ to guard herself, and then raised _Sting_ to protect Lisbeth, but dropped it after the smack from the Nazgûl was too strong to hold.

Lisbeth was in total shock, but then remembered something. "Wait, your stealth and agility parameters are way higher than mine on ALO. You can probably phase through the cloud!"

Silica nodded, but she and Lisbeth both raised their weapons agin to each defend themselves from an oncoming blow. Silica swiped right to dodge, and then rolled through the fog to try and slice the legs of the closest wraith.

It was too strong however, and quickly sent its bot right into Silica's side. She wailed in pain and tried to regain the strength in her spine, but as she did the wraith was ready to deal a final blow.

"AGH!" Lisbeth raised her hammer, and appeared to be close enough to strike. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

She send the large metal hammer into the back of the wraith, and just like Silica it too screamed in agony. However, this was no ordinary injury at first sight. A great empty void showed up at the center of the wraith chest, and drained its life force from the world like a black hole among stars. The monster let out a horrible screeching noise just like Kirito's Witch-King form did after receiving a stab from Yui, only this time the soul of the Nazgûl never flew out into the sky. Instead it began withering to the ground until a giant implosion cause a shockwave of energy to scatter the nearby field with debris.

Silica was still frozen to the ground in shock and fear as her virtual life flashed before her survived eyes. "No way…" She then turned to an even more confused Lisbeth. "D-Did you just kill that thing?"

Lisbeth looked down at her shiny golden legendary weapon, and then saw the second wraith approaching her with full tenacity. She let out another war cry and sent the hammer smashing into this one's head, which caused another scream of pain to take the air, and sent this one to the ground in a similar manner.

After its deduction at the hands of _Mjölnir_ , the black smoke dissipated, and left Lisbeth to fall to he knees. "No way…I just killed those things."

"Haha!" Silica stood and ran over to hug Lisbeth. "Yea you did! Nice job!"

"Thanks…" Lisbeth continued to inspect her hammer. "Well, I wonder if those guys who were taken over by Annatar are saved now or what. I mean if you die in the game…"

"You're kicked out of the world, and logged out of the game!" Silica jumped up with joy, but then found Lisbeth still touching her golden hammer.

"Huh…" The blacksmith began thinking. "We used all of our weapons against these monsters back at Dol Guldur, but none of them did anything like that…except Klein had this thing stashed away, so he never actually used it."

She then turned to Silica. "You don't think this thing can slay Nazgûls because it's a legendary weapon, do you?"

Silica began taking that thought in. "Huh…I guess I never considered that…maybe there's like a weird code or something that gives it crazy extra powers in this world…"

 _"_ _WRAGHHHHHHH!"_

The two girls, and most everyone on the battle field heard that cry coming form atop the city Citadel. It was far louder than the two Nazgûl just recently slain, and it had more room to echo a crossed the plains. Lisbeth then noticed a tiny cloud of smoke coming from the top of the city, and then looked at Silica.

"It's another one of those wraiths. I think someone else just killed one!"

"Yea, we need to get up there and see what happened…" She began looking around for Pina, but noticed the horse looked to be a little wobbly.

"Oh no, Pina!?" She ran over to give it an inspection, but noticed there really weren't any serious injuries."

Lisbeth started smiling. "I think the screeching spooked the poor girl. Maybe we need another ride."

"But I don't want to leave her here…" Silica took a deep breath and sighed. "Fine…We can find a stray horse and ride it through the city. It might be kind of hard on account of all those orcs, but…"

"Yea…" Lisbeth started grinning as she now had a new idea, and just then she started looking at one of the fallen fell beasts, which looked to be alive.

"Or, we could try something with wings."

It took Silica several minutes to get used to the bizarre steering mechanics of the fell beats, but quickly enough they were all off the ground and into the air flying right for the topof Minas Tirith. Silica steadied her flight in to inspect everything, and then found the source of the noise coming from the top flat of the Citadel.

"ASUNA!" Lisbeth yelled sitting behind Silica. She noticed the black cloud had finally disappeared as soon as they went to land, and as they left the fell beast Yui was sitting over her unconscious mother with red eyes and tears on her cheeks.

"Asuna!" Lisbeth ran over and grabbed her limp hand. "She's not dead, she would have turned into a cloud of pixels by now."

"Yea." Silica agreed, but her expression looked rather grim as she looked to a now shaking yui sitting over a bloody _Lambent Light._

"Y-Yui…tell us what happened?"

* * *

Time had passed since the victory on Pelennor Fields. The sun was now shining over the white but smoldering city of Minas Tirith, and the grey cloud of Mordor had returned behind the mountains to further cloak the flame and death beyond its borders.

Here we now find Asuna Yuuki still lying unconscious, underneath a sheet of white while she lied atop a soft and stable bed inside the City's safe houses. The Houses of Healing were infirmaries in Minas Tirith at which the healers of Gondor tended the sick and injured. They were located in the sixth circle of the city, near the tunnel to the Citadel, surrounded by lawns and trees. Now that the sun had returned to Gondor, these gardens were one of the few pretty sights found throughout the entire derelict city.

Asuna has not moved an inch since she been set inside the house, and she has not made any inner movements with the exception of soft, unconscious breaths. Finally however, after several hours that moved into the late afternoon, the victor of Gondor found her eyes fill with life once again as light poured through.

She collected herself through very weak blinks, and then moved her head slightly to the right to find a second body of weight sitting at that side of the bed. As she opened her eyes, Lisbeth was sitting beside her with a sad smile glued to her face.

"Boy have I missed you." Lisbeth said, trying to sound upbeat. Asuna gave her a soft smile in return and slowly reached out to place a hand on top of her best friend's.

"Lis…it's really nice to see you…is everyone else okay?"

"For the most part, yea…we're all just worried about you." She tried to remain strong, but something still seemed off. "We won the fight by the way. Just thought you should know…"

"I figured just as much…" Asuna took her hand back and slowly sat up, stretching out her body to the warm air of the room. She then rubbed her eyes, but caught back up to reality as she widened them.

"Where's Yui."

The rest of the group had been waiting inside the marble halls of the throne room the entire time. Silica, Leafa, Sinon, Recon, Agil, Chrysheight, and most importantly Yui were all waiting for their unconscious best friend to finally wake up and join them for council, but it took nearly the full day to reach that point.

Leafa sat with a colder than usual Yui, who hadn't stopped shaking this entire time. Silica sat with them, as did Recon as they all held a seat at the foot of the thrones.

Sinon, Agil, and Chrysheight on the other hand were standing out in the middle of the room. They were collecting the aftermath of the battle and trying to think of their next move.

Chrysheight spoke first. "Well, I'm glad you guys showed up when you did. We could have used a bit more punctuality, bu…"

Agil rolled his eyes and smiled. "Hey, we got here when we got here, and we all won the fight, which is the important part."

"Yea…" Sinon nodded, only she did so in a slow manner. "Still, it'd be nice to see if Asuna is alr…"

The doors to the Throne Room swung open as two guards made way for Lisbeth escorting Asuna, who was once again dressed in her light weight Gondor Command Armor. She still had a limp, but she remained fully awake.

Yui jumped right up from Leafa and Silica's side and ran right for Asuna. At the same time Lisbeth let go of Asuna's arm and let her bend down to hug her little daughter right back.

Everyone remained quiet for a moment before Yui spoke up from her own tears. "Mommy…I didn't mean to do it…I didn't mean to stab daddy like that."

Silica and Lisbeth already knew, but the others all gasped the moment they heard that news. Asuna took Yui's head and rested it on her shoulders. "Yui…you did nothing wrong. That wasn't daddy, we both knew that wasn't him."

The little AI continued to cry as the room grew more and more silent. Finally Lisbeth swiped open her inventory and pulled out her golden hammer, _Mjölnir_. She then held it down for Asuna to see.

"Silica and I think we figured something out. We managed to kill two ringwraiths using my hammer. I think it's a legendary weapon in ALO, so maybe it came over hear with some extra powers?"

Yui stopped crying, and Asuna stopped hugging her as they both looked up to Lisbeth with wide open eyes. Asuna stood while whipping her own tears, and then reached out and grabbed the hammer herself.

She remembered Klein receiving it as a gift from their quest to earn _Excaliber_. Both items were legend weapons, though the hammer was less famous than the sword. Lisbeth had the mallet here in ALO, however, which proved once again the two games had an impressive connection.

Asuna held it tight, wishing she could go back to fight the Witch-King using this hammer instead. She and Yui did defeat him, but it seemed to return to Mordor just like the one she temporarily defeated before at Osgiliath.

She began to shake with more rage just thinking about Klint and the Witch-King, and how this game was starting to get to her head. She then charged forward and landed right at the foot of the Gondor Throne.

She fell to her knees, and pulled out a mysterious black object, and then quickly dropped it in front of her only to be slammed by the golden hammer.

Silica and Leafa were still sitting at the foot of the lesser thrones, but they quickly stood up in fear as Asuna's hammer blows began to shake the whole pedestal. Silica then stepped up a bit to see just what Asuna was doing.

She was in full tears. Asuna beat the tiny object into oblivion with all the strength in her hands as she let out yell after yell. It appeared to be a ring, Silica could only guess it was the same ring Asuna cut from Kirito's hands.

She smashed it again and again, with more fire and tears in her eyes than ever before. She wanted to break the game just by blowing this ring to smithereens.

Finally she ran out of strength and let the crying finally take over as she dropped the hammer and let it roll down the steps. She turned around and let her head fall down to her knees where she was once again joined by Yui.

This time however, Yui was not crying as much, and it seemed like she was ready to speak again. "Mommy…I think I know what we can do."

Asuna looked up and wiped her own tears away to reply. "Yea…okay. What do you think we should do, Yui?"

Yui stood up and grabbed the heavy hammer with an easy lift of her hand. "Lisbeth said she killed two Nazgûl with this, which means it has to work to some degree. I can imagine legendary weapons from ALO have the power to defeat wraiths."

"Great!" Sinon awkwardly shouted. "M-my _Light Bow Shekinah_ is a legend weapon. I never actually used it when I fought the wraiths in Dol Guldur because we were at close range, so maybe it will work too."

"Yea…" Asuna collected herself and returned to her feet. "My _Crest of Yggdrasil_ wand from ALO was a legend weapon too, but I never figured out how to unlock it in MEO. For that matter I don't even think I can use magic in this game."

"Well, maybe we can still unlock it." Yui said with optimism. 'The codes for all your weapons should be stored within your gift ring, _Nenya_. Do you still have it?"

Asuna nodded, and pulled the long forgotten white ring from her pocket. She held it lightly in her hand. "I can't put it back on though, or else Sauron will take me over just like the ringwraiths."

"Right." Yui agreed. "But there has to be a way to break it down."

"Eh, give me a crack at it." Lisbeth shrugged. "That One Ring wouldn't let me break it, but maybe these little ones will. After all ever since I finished that _Andúril_ my smithing level has gotten so high I don't even need a dwarven forge anymore."

"R-really?" Asuna said with hope starting to retake her heart. "Well yea, maybe we can do this after all."

"Here!" Chrysheight opened up his inventory and stepped forward with a broken pile of wooden shards. "This is all that remains from my first staff. The Witch-King Kazuto broke it, but maybe you could us it to make a new staff for Asuna."

"Yea…yea!" Lisbeth snapped her finger. "Let's try smashing this ring in with these sticks, that'll make the _Yggdrasil Crest_ for sure!"

"Heh, well it sounds pretty goofy when you say it like that." Agil made a joke to reference her odd choice of words. "Okay then now we have the beginnings of a new plan. Now what?"

Leafa looked out to the fiery clouds of Mordor. "We could try going in now? Our armies need to re-build, but I think we could get pretty far."

"Y-yea!" Recon stood up. "My Ents and Huorns can take out the main gates of Mordor. We can have it down in no time!"

Asuna began taking these thoughts all in, but remembered a few things she learned from Klint about all the different characters in Lord of the Rings.

"Yea, but let's hold off for one more siege. We'll wait to take Mordor, but only after we take out the Morgul Vale."

"Morgul What?" Lisbeth said with confusion as Asuna pulled up a map, and then narrowed it down to pinpoint a location east of Ithilian and right at the foothills of the Mountains of Mordor.

"Minas Morgul. It guards the Morgul Vale." Asuna moved her finger to point out the marker. "It's the home of the Nazgûl. I bet the Witch-King and his other friends are all there waiting for their next attack."

She then stepped off the throne steps and grabbed the handle of _Lambent Light_ at her belt. "We'll storm their outpost, and take on Mordor once and for all…then we find Kirito, and get out of this game."

* * *

 _~Meanwhile, deep within the wicked darkness of Western Mordor_

The Morgul Vale was the valley of a great black river in the western Mountains of Shadow. The name only came to be in the later Third Age, after the Nazgûl captured the fortress of Minas Ithil and turned it into the _Tower of Dark Sorcery—Minas Morgul_. The only vegetation in the valley was to be found along the river - fields of white flowers believed to give off noxious vapors.

In its prime, Minas Ithil was a beautiful place. The moon cast silver light throughout the courtyards and streets, and reflected off the marble walls, so that it seemed to shine. The houses also shone white. The city also had one tall tower, with many windows, that rotated slowly. The city was accessed by a road, which was said to gleam like the city's white marble walls, running over a bridge as it crossed Imlad Morgul,or the "Valley of Dark Sorcery." Large meadows were placed on both banks of the stream.

When it was taken by the forces of evil, the beauty was replaced by terror. The lovely white light was replaced by a sickly corpse-pale light green, the meadows were filled with sick vegetation, and Imlad Morgul began to steam cold poisonous vapors. At the head of the bridge crossing the stream the bestial and human figures that stood there were corrupted, and all was guarded by the new citadel—Minas Morgul.

Now, Minas Morgul lumes as a tall, rigid fortress of glowing green death, and it is here that the thrones of the Nine sit to rule over their forces.

Six thrones were completely vacant for the moment, because their owners were out and about the dark land preparing a new army for the Dark Lord, but three of the Nazgûl had recently suffered defeats, leaving two to be empty forever as their characters were seemingly logged out, and one at the center which felt the weight of its usual owner.

The Witch-King of Minas Morgul had just fully re-taken his form after turning back to shadow from his defeat in Gondor. He made it out barely alive, and was ready to step back and claim his eventual victory.

However, things seemed a bit off. It took a great long while for the Morgul Lord to remove himself from the throne, because as he finally recovered, his conscious slowly returned to him.

"Ugh…ugh…wha-…what happened?"

A familiar voice passed through the dark, spiky crown of the Witch-King as he begins to look about the palace of dread.

"Egh…this place stinks…and it's really evil looking. Hold on, what am I wearing anyway?"

After taking back the strength in his hands, the current Witch-King reached up and grasped the sides of his helm, slowly removing it to reveal his true face once again.

"That's much better. Now…wait, where am I?"

The mind of Kazuto Kirigaya, or _Kirito_ as he is usually referred to by his comrades, had finally returned.

* * *

 **Weeeellll that's quite the little turn for Kirito! We'll see what he's up to tomorrow! Also Lisbeth thinks she knows how to save players who have turned into Ringwraiths!**

 **More Tomorrow!**


	40. 40: The Will of the Dark Lord

**Author's Note: Well damn! I have had a busy week! It took me so long to make the appropriate edits to this chapter, but now it's here! Apologies, and please enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Fourty

The Will of the Dark Lord

 _"Concealed within his fortress, the lord of Mordor sees all. His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth, and flesh. You know of what I speak, Gandalf: a great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame."_

—Saruman, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

Kirito looked all around at his surroundings to try and infer where he was in the world of virtual reality. He noticed the walls inside his throne room were very dark, with a tiny haze of green filling the floor like a rug.

He began rubbing his head in concern. "This isn't that dungeon with the acid dragon again, is it…?" He quickly threw that out as soon as he looked down to his own armor, which was actually a little too black even for his own liking.

"No…am I still in…that _Lord of the Rings_ game?" He stood from the chair and tried finding his weapons, but his main _Elucidator_ was completely missing.

In its absence, Kirito pulled out a tiny yet jagged black steel blade. "Yea…I'm still here alright. This looks just like that dagger that Klint kid lost. Wait a minute…Klint."

His memory began returning to him once he finally tried putting all the pieces together. "Klint took us to that creepy castle in the woods…come to think of it, it looked a lot like this place."

Kirito pulled up his menu for a world map, but as he did he also noticed a handy little piece of information, one he was actually fairly used to.

"Great, the log out button is missing…as if that doesn't bring back horrible memories." He waved the thought away and quickly found the map, and followed by moving it around the limitations of its borders.

"Okay, so I'm in Mordor? Or no wait, just outside of it in a place called Minas Morgul. Yea, these are definitely creepy names." He then pulled the map north and began recognizing some of the features. "Right, there's the Hobbit Village, and there's Kayaba's house. This place I'm in now must be the evil kingdom or something."

Kirito wasn't in the mood to sit and wait around, so instead he put away his dagger and walked for the door, but just as he did he panicked. "Ah wait what if I'm not supposed to looking like myself!?" He began looking around and then remembered the pointy Witch-King helmet sitting on his throne.

"Right, better keep this thing on." He re-equipped and noticed a significant increase in his avatar's strength. He also had no way of knowing, but as it went on the big gaping hole in the mouth section of the mask was once again covered with black shadow, making it look like Kirito's face wasn't there at all.

"Alright, time to see if there's away out of this place. Maybe I can try and make it back to Kayaba. He'll have some idea for me…" Kirito tried keeping all the optimism in the world, and just as he put on the helm, the Witch-King in disguise walked forward and took his exit from the throne room.

However, off to the side in the very same room, a shiny sphere lit with a black surface and orange glows in its core stayed silent and watched Kirito the entire time.

* * *

While Kirito tries to navigate himself through the labyrinth of Minas Morgul, we now come a crossed our favorite Ranger in the North making his next stop for a new mission, only this time his plans have him completely out of the North.

Klein and his men have hiked all the way from Forodwaith, through the back western side of Gondor, and crossed the Anduin Delta all to make way for their next journey's mission—Harad.

Harad was a diverse region located south of Mordor, with the Mountains of Shadow forming part of the northern border of the region. The River Harnen flowed westward from the Mountains of Shadow to the Bay of Belfalas and was Harad's border with South Gondor - a deserted region contested between the two neighboring nations. The Harad Road ran from Harad northward through South Gondor and on to Ithilien.

The northernmost part of Harad was called Near Harad and the southern part was Far Harad. On the coast there was a natural harbor with a narrow cape curving around it. The coastal region around the harbor was known as Umbar, and the harbor was called the Havens, home of the seafaring raiders known as the Corsairs. While the geography of this landscape was impressive, it is actually central South Gondor where we find ourselves now.

This desert landscape was also called "Harondor", because its lands were constantly being debated between the people of Gondor and Harad. These two nations did not like one another, much like the races of men from Rohan and Dunland due to border disputes. However Harad was no region meant for laughing at, for in fact they had their own wealth and power within the system of Middle-Earth.

Now, Klein and his band of merry followers are trekking through a landscape completely opposite form the frigid lands of Forodwaith in search of their next mission objective. Tasked by Kayaba to discover a back entrance into Mordor, Klein's men were also being asked to hold off any advancing evil allies marching from the southern regions. They had originally returned to Rivendell, and then mimicked the path of Asuna down towards the western waters of the continent and made their way round the Bay of Belfalas, however their journey forced them to skip the port city of Pelargir and travel up the small Poros river, just on the border of Gondor Proper and Harondor.

However, right when they landed, the rather limited group of northern rangers found themselves in a very interesting position right on the banks of the Poros River. Anyone who attended the battle of Minas Tirith would have made not on the fact that Mordor only used its own forces, and had no allies come to their aid against the Realm of Gondor. This was originally supposed to be the job of the Haradrim, but their massive force ended up running into Klein and his group of scouts at the borders.

"Geeze…" Klein said as he found his wrists bound together in front of his body. "Kayaba never said there'd be a whole damn army here waiting for us! And ta think he only gave me 20 men…"

After trying to fight their way through massive hordes of Haradrim soldiers, the ranger faction found themselves quickly outnumbered and easy to dispatch. They now waited in an enemy camp just on the Harondor border, while the the Haradrim leaders discuss how to make up for their lost time and missing the battle.

"Why haven't they killed us yet?" One captive asked his comrades. "I figured we'd be dead the moment they realized we were ragers."

"Right, but we're not dressed in Gondor Ranger robes, or Ithilian ranger robes, we're from the north."

"But we are descendants of the Dúnedain, we have ancient Gondor Blood in our veins!"

"Speak for yourselves!" Klein argued, being the only player in the group. "I'm not from this place! I'm from Tokyo!"

One fellow captive ignored their leader and addressed the previous concern. "Right, but they may not know that…we just have to wait for the leader to come back."

Klein shook his head with hesitation, because he did not like any of that. He was also fairly curious with the whole idea of men factions fighting other men factions. "Hold on…why did these guys even start attacking us? It's not like we're those ugly orc things. We're men just like they are."

"True…" Replied the man from his right. "But this hatred between Gondor and Harad is plagued with former b order disputes that date back to well into the second age. These two nations dispise each other, and this faction has utilized an ally in Mordor to help earn their justified territory."

"That's a load of crap!" Klein shouted back. Other guys kicked him for his outbursts, but his replying whisper did not seem to lower its volume. "Anyone can take a look at those nasty Mordor guys and see they're totally bad news. Why would these idiots follow them into battle?"

The others wen't to respond, but after Klein made his rather loud counter argument the leaders of the camp decided to speed up their interrogation by paying the prisoners with a visit. They all rushed in with black and red desert robes, and each had polished steel scimitars strapped to their belts, and great royal looking black and gold bows attached to their backs.

They leaders were speaking in some foreign tongue that no one in the captured faction recognized, which left them all even more nervous than before.

Just then the center Haradrim gaged the tent floor and noticed all of the selected commanders who were kept in there each had similar garb, with the exception of the off red color of Klein and his ranger robes.

The man then pulled the short sword from his waist band and held its tip right below Kleins chin. The now frail ranger commander reared his head back in fear for his life as he tried to make his case. "Wai-wai-wait a minute here! I was just getting into a conversation with my boys on why we're not your enemy! Maybe if you give me a chance to share my good word with ya you'll see we're not that bad after all!"

The soldier was unphased and began stepping forward, but not before his side man stepped up and grabbed his arm.

The rough looking desert traveler then turned to Klein with a coarse voice. "Hold on, I would like to know one thing…Where is your White Tree?"

"Ehhh…?" Klein froze for the longest time. "My what?"

The second gurd stepped forward to continue. "Yes. Most of you rats from the north usually wear that ridiculous dead tree on your chests, but I see no tree form you…where is it?"

"Um…" Klein tried to answer, but waited for one of his more experienced NPCs to answer for him. Sadly none made the move, which left the poor lonely player to fend for thw whole group.

"T-That's actually what we were talking about! We're not from Gondor! We're um…from the far north?"

Klein had no idea how his answer would affect the situation, but it seemed to give him more time. He then continued. "Nope, we're just regular, non-Gondor men just like yourselves…but now that you mention it I did find some of their rangers wearing similar outfits to ours on our way in. I suppose that sort of thing would fool anyone though…"

"SILENCE!" The first guard stepped forward once again and attempted to dig the tip of his sword deeper into Klein's neck. "I will not let these Gondor dogs lie their way out of our hands. It's their fault we are so late on our way to the north, and they will have to be dealt with!"

Klein was starting to look scared again, but then looked down to the sword in the man's hands. He then looked up a bit to find his desert robes were very loose and baggy, which meant there could be no possible way this Haradrim soldier could move quickly in a one-on-one battle.

Finally, Klein looked up and girnned. "Okay then, let me show ya my skills in battle. I'd think you guys would be able to tell if I'm from Gondor just by seeing me fight."

All 3 Haradrim steped back and looked at one another, and the second one spoke again. "Well, he may be right…if his skills are not the same as the Rangers in Harondor, then maybe they are from a different region."

They first guard went to make another comment, but Klein stepped up from his spot on the floor. He then joined the three men's conversation with a sly grin.

" _Buuut_ …one of you guys will have ta be the one to fight me."

* * *

Now we return to find our lurking hero Kirito carefully walking around the inner walls of Minas Morgul. The ground and stones in the surface of the buildings are all lit up with an eerie green hue, and the black behind it completes the imagery of the castle as the true dreadful lair of the Nazgúl.

However, Kirito had yet to find any other ringwraiths during his mission. He came a crossed several small factions of orcs who quickly straightened their attitude the moment they laid eyes on their commander in chief. He never made an attempt to give anyone an extensive glare, which allowed him to solely focus on finding a way out.

He vaguely remembered his former, evil self being able to ride on the back of a great winged beast, but he could not hear or see any of these creatures in the entire fortress. He also failed to locate any horse stable or other means of transportation which left him with very little options outside the realm of walking.

"Great." He whispered to himself underneath the black of his mask. "I have no idea where I'm going, and I'm thousands of miles from the only other person I know in this game." He had no idea Asuna and the others had joined into the game since his disappearance, but he was still determined to locate Akihiko Kayaba's sanctuary in Rivendell to the north.

He rounded a corner and located a great big road that ran along the perimeter of the inside of the the great outer wall. It looked to be the main means of travel for the internal armies of Minas Morgul, which gave Kirito reason to believe a way out was somewhere closer than he expected.

As the faux Witch-King made his march down the outside corridor, the darkened leader finally came a crossed what appeared to be main gate in and out of the city. He quickly increased his speed as the doors came closer into view, but just as he rounded the final stretch of stone roadway, the great causeway doors shifted open, revealing two blacked Nazgûl standing in the way.

Kirito had no idea how to react at first, but then remembered his outer appearance mimicked theirs only he also remembered his avatar was equipped with a crowded helmet of sorts, signifying himself as the probable leader.

Kirito hesitated for a moment as he went to say something, but as he did his blood turned cold with fear and doubt, because as the figures came closer into view, they no longer appeared to be simple black riders.

They were two of the same video game players that entered the game with Kirito. He remembered these two being rather quiet and stand in off to the side of all their missions, but now he could plainly see their ghastly white outlines hiding under the black shrouds of Morgul shadow.

However, the greatest distinction was not their newer, colder appearance, it was rhe fact that their eyes were completely blackened and void of all emotion. He went to gather a better view, but then relaizwd his eyes would not look the same to his two new friends.

"Uh oh…" Kirito blanked and quickly reacted to both ringwraiths grabbing their swords. Normally he would have a quicker draw of his Elucidator to end the battle before it began, but this replacement Morgul sword was much slower and heavier than his weapon of SAO.

Therefore, in a quick instant he felt a sharp pain in his back as a great Nazgûl sword shot through his chest and out the back side. The enemy had discovered he was unlike them in in appearance, and as a result he soon found all life leaving his body and his eyes fading out as well.

However, before he began to count his blessings, a revival sound triggered in his ears, and right at the end of a mysterious tunnel, Kirito found himself back in his great evil throne room of Minas Morgul, just a few hundred feet from the gate he was recently slain in front of.

"Wha-…what the hell just happened?" Kirito expected to be logged out, or even worse die just like the original game Sword Art Online. He never expected to return to his throne after being killed.

The only thing was, he wasn't on his throne, but instead lying on the dirty floor in front of it.

"Oh apologies, usually you all are suppose to return to your thrones when you've been slain in battle…"

Kirito heard a familiar voice resonate in his mind and turned to find Klint Rojer's avatar sitting in his throne. He wore a dark black suit of light weight armor and had his legs crossed in an obnoxious manor to deliver his snarky monologue.

"However, I'm afraid yours seems to be occupied at the moment."

"Grr…Klint." Kirito remembered this player saying some nasty things before he and the others were brainwashed in Dol Guldur. He quickly rose to his feet and began yelling at his contender. "What the hell's wrong with you?! I know those two players would never have killed me on their own doing!"

"Riiight…" Klint agreed. "And I could probably say the same for you…well now that you have your free will back, anyway." Klint stood from his throne and began walking down the left side of the staired pedestal. He started pacing in a circle as he gave Kirito a calculated grin before continuing with his comments. "Still, it's a bit troubling now that I've lost my greatest weapon. You served me well up until this point, but if you don't wish to cooperate I'm afraid I…"

"AGH!" Kirito grabbed his Morgul sword and charged Klint, only to find a red force field protect the master game maker and see that his sword was now melting like metal in acid.

Kirito threw away the pathetic hilt and gave Klint another vicious glare. "Why would I even begin to help you now!? You'd have to be out of your mind to think I'd stay in this game longer than I need to."

"Hah." Klint rolled his eyes. "Well it doesn't look like you're making great progress in getting out…very well, perhaps you are truly no use to me after all…I can try my hand at taking your friends then."

Kiriot's eyes widened like a dog, and then his anger shot up ten fold as he was now greeted with new supply of rage. He considered just charging Klint with his bare fists for that comment, but just then the Dark Lord opened up a menu and began planning a new activity.

"Fine. I see I'm boring you. We'll try it your way." He lowered his red force field, and quickly pulled up an item inventory, revealing a great one handed mace fit for the ruler of Mordor. He then looked at a rather pathetic Kirito with his missing Witch-King's helmet and light black robes and armor and smiled. "I suppose you'd like a weapon?"

"My Elucidator." Kirito responded. "Where is it?" He really had no interest in the sword, but the fact that it was missing gave him that much more curiosity.

Klint began shaking his head as he gave Kirito a wag of his finger. "Oh no no no, you don't want that ol' thing. No, you're here to face _me_! Which is why I'll grant you with a much more fitting blade…

He swiped up another menu, and noticed Kirito's hands began to glow. The black swordsman of SAO was still lost in confusion until he started feeling a familiar handle take his right hand, and then after a sword flickered into existence, Kirito's eyes widened once more.

It was the _Dark Repulser_ sword, long lost from Sword Art Online. Unlike his regular _Elucidator_ which was recovered from a boss drop, the _Dark Repulser_ was forged into existence by his good friend Lisbeth. It held a special meaning to Kirito, but was rarely ever used in his good hand, or outside of dual wielding altogether.

Klint gave himself a clap and smiled. "God, I never cease to amaze myself! Very well, we'll have ourselves a little battle right here. Keep in mind however…I'm packing quite the punch."

"Grr…AGHHH!" Kirito charged forward in the name of his fellow gamers who were trapped as the other Nazgûl. He gave his _Dark Repulser_ a quick charge and then powered on a sword skill to try and knock Klint's mace out of his hands.

However, the mace was in the exact same hand that found the One Ring gracing its finger, which gave the weapon quite an extra buff that knocked Kirito clean off his feet and into the near wall of the throne room.

The black hero began to moan with slight pain before finding his feet again. He had no idea where all that strength came from inside Klint's attack, but he tried once again to counter it with a quick and precise blow from his emerald longsword.

Sadly however, the Witch-King was met with the same fate once again, and found that this second hit was twice as bad as the first. He rolled over to grab his side, but didn't let the sword leave his hand. He then looked up to find Klint laughing to himself once again.

"Oh my god! No wonder you're friends all wish to see you again! You really have that warrior's fighting spirit!" He stepped forward and gave his mace a twirl. "You're also overflowing with arrogance…you really would have made a great commander in my army."

"nggg…" Kirito didn't want to listen to a word the other man had to say, he was so fed up. "What the hell are you talking about?" The young swordsman tried to regain his composure, but found most of his strength zapped after that lasy hit from Klint's mace.

The Dark Lord stepped forward some more and began making his eventual point. "Oh come now don't you want to know why I had you of all people taking up the command of my ringwraiths? You're the master swordsman of Sword Art Online! You're the champion of Alfheim Online! You're always in the center of the virtual crowd. If you're going to hold that much influence and glory, well then I might as well use it too."

He swiped open the map of Middle-Earth and let out a sigh of pure satisfaction. "My world—Middle-Earth. Home to the most beautiful scenery inside the virtual reality. My greatest achievement was mastering the connection between my world and the Seed, which allows me to make extraordinary connections with other games inside the network. I've always wanted to live in the world of Tolkien, but after a while I realized things would get boring if I just left myself with one world…so I began thinking, why not just take over all the others as well!"

"What?" Kirito was strugglingwith each sound he made. "How can you even do that all from one single game?"

Klint rolled his eyes. "Simple. I combined the brilliant but failed plans of all the greatest VR game masters in the world, and forged their methods into a key, giving myself total control. Akihiko Kayaba created the most realistic video gaming experience known to man, and Sugō Nobuyuki allowed for a new method of controlling players. Once all these things were discovered, the Seed allowed the perfect opportunity to combine every game with one another. It's ony a matter of time before all of them become one single world, and I want to be the man to usher in that glorious era."

"I needed this world to have a fresh start before I made my plans to invade other games, and once I let it grow I knew I would be able to invite players to test it…the makings of my very own army. I'll be able to use my valiant recruits to help me take ALfheim, and any other virtual world I want!"

Kirito tried to follow his words, but the mad man's eyes were starting to give him the creeps. He tried shifting his position to better ready his sword, but he had no choice but tolet he man carry on.

"My creations inside MEO have perfected the mind control technology of Sugō, which has given me the greatest servants a man could ever ask for! I started out with just the nine of you, but then more came, and soon I realized masses of ALO players began flocking into my servers…all to save their favorite player."

"What?" Kirito was now totally lost as Klint began hinting at the obvious. "People left ALO just to find me…? Why would they…?"

"Why? I have no idea, and I really don't care." Klint replied with honesty. "Truth be told I knew you were good, but good lord! The masses came like sheep! I have more than half of them right now still inside this game without even a clue as to what's going on! Especially the ones inside Gondor…"

Kirito had no idea where that was or what it menat, but even so he tried standing. "So what, you really think all these players can be beaten? Then you just let them all roam around your world to discover its flaws? I can tell you right now that's the dumbest thing you could ever ask for. Never give gamers an easy way to defeat the boss…they'll break records killing you _and_ stopping this game."

"You're right…and I suppose I better award Asuna and the others once that time comes."

 _*SLAM!*_

Klint turned back around to find Kirito had fallen off his sword. He was using it to hoist himself back to his feet, but the sound of that name made his heart stop with just one single thought.

He slowly looked Klint in the eyes. "…what did you say?"

"Hmph." Klint grinned, and then gave Kirito a swift kick in the jaw with the metal boot on his right foot. He then began smiling once again. "You heard me loud and clear. Your favorite group of people followed in after you on the news of your disappearance, and now they're leading the assault on Mordor as we speak."

"Everyone…Asu-na…" Kirito's mind quickly flashed around thinking about all the friends he has missed since beginning MEO. He even let a tear fall from his eye as an image of Asuna Yuuki crossed his mind, her glowing smile buring his internal vision with every second it stood in place.

Klint noticed the change in Kirito's expression and the let out a howl. "Well I'm sure you'd also like to hear how she was the one who gave me _this!_ " He flashed Kirito with a quick view of the One Ring, and then let out an even bigger laugh. "How fun! She came in trying her hardest to save you, and now she's responsible for burying you even deeper than you already were!"

"AGHHHHHH!"

Kirito charged up with a totally random surge of energy. He pointed the _Dark Repulser_ right into the chest of Klint Rojer, and watched as the virtual red blood and pixels formed from the wound.

However, as he waited for the villain to fall, the Dark Lord looked Kirito right in the eye and smiled. "Kirito…tisk tisk…I can't die when I have my Ring."

He then took control of the _Dark Repulser_ , pulled it from his chest and shoved it right through Kirito's, leaving the black swordsman in total shock an awe.

Kirito felt the normal blow of pain that usually accompanied a stab inside the VR, but he never felt himself fading or dying, and his health never lowered.

Finally Klint grinned. "And neither can you…when you die you get sent here, and when you die here, you're invincible. I can't have my greatest commander leaving my game on his own free will! So I'll just leave you inside the game and wait on your decision."

"Decision…decision for what?" Kirito grimaced through the pain as he only has time to assume the worst.

Klint smiled and yanked the sword from his chest. He then pulled up another menu with several remote commands ready to use.

"To join me…or watch Asuna fall just like you."

* * *

 **Apologies for any errors today! But as I said it was a busy week! New chapter tomorrow!**


	41. 41: Siege of Minas Morgul

**Author's Note: YIKES! GUYS...I left you all hanging. I never had time to get this chapter uploaded yesterday! I had a really busy week keeping me from making my edits and spell checks, and then I found a point in this chapter that I wanted to change. So I apologize for being late...here's a Saturday update!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Forty One

The Siege of Minas Morgul

 _"They are the Nazg_ _ûl_ , _Ringwraiths, neither living nor dead. At all times they feel the presence of the Ring, drawn to the power of the One. They will never stop hunting you."_

—Strider, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

Asuna and her armies marched eastward towards the Mountains of Shadow and onto their next mission. Their task was simple, take out Minas Morgul, and secure an easy route to the Black Gate of Mordor. Their road ran east towards Ithilian, and right as the path neared the inhospitable lands of the Morgul Vale, the Armies of the West would soon face their enemies once more.

While the final army was grand, this force sent to take out Minas Morgul was only half the regular size. The great Host of the West was equipped with 2 armies of men, 2 of elves, and 2 of dwarves. They also held a small group of Huorns and Ents all the way from Fanghorn Forest, and for the purposes of this attack the entire force was separated.

Asuna and her knights from Gondor made it their goal to liberate the lands of Minas Morgul in response to its attack on Minas Tirith. To help them, Lisbeth and her dwarves of Erebor were also bringing great siege equipment to easily break down their defenses, and the elves of Mirkwood led by Sinon the Dragon Slayer rounded out a core group of soldiers with excellent stealth and weaponry. They were also being joined by the entire force of ents, because although they would come in handy for the attack on Mordor, the fires and ash of the Dark Lands did not suit Ents or Huorns well at all.

The task force was also chosen in this rank because of their specific leaders as well. While all the players who came to help Kirito were skilled in their own way, Asuna, Lisbeth, and Sinon all had a unique item each to help combat the commanders of the Morgul Army. Each girl had her very own Legendary Weapon that could in theory be used to dispatch Nazgûl foes, and in hopes this would also log them out and save the 9 boys from total control under Sauron's will.

Lisbeth used this in practice when she wielded her _Lightning Hammer Mjölnir_ to kill two Ringwraiths on the fields of Pelennor, and Sinon too had her very own legend weapon in the form of her _Light Bow Shekinah_ , which could hopefully do the same thing if given the chance.

Finally, with the help of Lisbeth's fine blacksmithing skill, Asuna Yuuki now held her small but powerful old weapon from ALfheim, the _Crest of Yggdrasil_. This magical wand helped increase her mage powers back in ALO, but now that she was no longer an Undine warrior, she wondered if it would give her the same skill in battle here.

Despite any doubt in her mind, Asuna had no other choice. She and her two friends would travel to Minas Morgul and slay any Nazgûl that stepped in their path. She could not risk bringing the whole army, in case they suffered too many casualties, so she decided to bring one of each faction, along with the ents due to their probable lack of help inside Mordor.

Now we find our Gondorian commander marching with her host towards Minas Morgul.

"The bridge should be just up ahead. We've been following the river just like the map said to do, so we should see signs of the enemy and time now." Asuna road atop her white stallion as she, Lisbeth, and Sinon all led the armies into the Vale.

"Thank God." Lisbeth sighed. "I was wondering how long this road went on for. It seems like all's we ever do in this game is walk."

"It's an adventure video game…" Sinon shook her head. "What else did you expect?"

"Well I mean there's supposed to be some mini fast travel options!" Lisbeth argued. "That loser Sauron took them all out though just to piss us off…and it's really working right about now."

"Lis, relax. We'll ge there when we get there." Asuna understood things were starting to grow rather tense inside the group, but it was her responsibility to make sure she and her friends kept a level head going into the battle.

Lisbeth nodded with slight agreement. "Yea…you're right, sorry." She then turned around on top of her horse to try and earn a quick view of their following army. "So you think half is gonna be enough? This place sounds pretty big, after all."

"It'll be enough." Asuna ensured. "The main force that attacked Minas Tirith came from this place, which means they're really going to be down men to defend their gates. Besides I want to keep at least half of our armies fully healthy for the moment we decide to attack Mordor."

Lisbeth understood and gave her a quick nod. She then pulled out her gilded hammer and began polishing it with a rag off her horse's saddle. "Yea, plus I guess it made sense to send all of us. After all it'll be good to find more of those Ringwraiths to see if our Legendary Weapons can kill them."

"Agreed." Sinon was fully committed to see what her bow could truly do in a fight vs a Nazgûl. "Hopefully they'll give me an easy opening for my arrows. If that's the case I'll have no problem setting them free."

Asuna listened, but she made no direct sign of agreement. Her mind was too fixated on Kirito at this stage of the journey she hardly had room to consider any other elements. Lisbeth said she could kill Ringwraiths with her hammer, and in theory when you die in MEO your character is permanently logged out, but what if Kirito was different. What if the Witch-King was a considered a boss or something, and she had to perform extra trials to defeat him?

She would discover her desired answers soon enough as her and the forces of good were en route for their final corner before finding the valley of Morgul Shadow. Minas Morgul was just a crossed several more ridges, which meant the next battle was growing nigh.

However, while the other armies were all getting a head start for the north, the Ents were slowly lingering behind the horses of the main host. Recon did not mind being separated from Asuna and the others, because it allowed time for him to clear his thoughts heading into this difficult battle up ahead.

"Okay, I guess we're almost there." He said out loud as he road on top of one of his ent friends. "…are you guys sure you should be here?"

While it originally appeared Recon was talking to himself or to his ents, he was actually directing his conversation towards another ent to his right, only this one's head began to ruffle, and quickly revealed two familiar figures within its branches.

Just then, Leafa and Silica stuck their heads out and made sure to keep the rest of their presence hidden. Leafa however stuck her head out a few extra inches to give Recon a reply. "Geeze, we better be…it feels like I've been in this tree for ages."

Silica sighed to her right and looked out to see the great host of men, elves and dwarves to their front. "Yea…remind me why we had to follow them?"

Leafa shrugged and gave her a suggestive glance. "Well I only came to see if the three of them could take out Ringwraiths by themselves…then you followed after me saying it was a bad idea, but you stuck with us anyway…"

"Well it kind of is!" Silica kept her voice low. "Asuna wanted our armies to stay with Agil and Chrysheight, and she wanted us to stay there and look after them!"

"Right." Leafa agreed. "And we fulfilled the reasonable half of that. Keeping our armies split into 2 halves is a great idea, but I think we should be allowed to follow by ourselves into this battle too."

"Suuure…" Recon said as he was the only one who could stay visible. "Which is why you snuck out with me instead of telling anyone that thought yourself."

"…" Leafa had no direct comment at first, because she had to let the angry shade of red leave her face first. "Well…Agil and Chrysheight said they'd look after our armies…so they clearly agree with us tagging along."

"Yea, I'm not sure that's completely accurate…" Silica quietly replied as her head sunk lower than before. "Anyway, let's just stay back for the full battle unless Asuna or someone _reeeaaally_ needs our help, okay?"

Leafa delivered her first smile in the moment in agreement. "Okay, fine. That sounds like a good enough compromise." She then looked forward with a troubled face as the future battle took her mind.

 _"_ _I'm sorry Asuna…I just want to check on Kirito too is all…I want to see that he's alright."_

As Leafa made her thought and prayers apparent inside her mind, Asuna was quickly leading her army around a corner of rock and dust, until they came a crossed a green glow coming out in the distance of the night time view. They also felt the air growing thicker by the moment, and a foul stench of ash and smoke took the air which made it slightly harder to breathe.

Then, before either girl said a word, the great tower of old Ithilian took their view. Minas Morgul stood as a great monument of black and green. Its walls were jagged and rounded with spikes at the ramparts, and the green hue lit it up like an undead citadel. They could hear slight noises coming form beyond the wall, but nothing sounded too alarming to keep them from leaving their tracks.

Asuna halted her advancement and then signaled at Lisbeth and her following dwarves to the right. "Okay Lis, we'll need to send a battering ram down the bridge there, but before we do why don't you have some other siege equipment roll in to give them a taste first."

"Hehe, glad- _ly_." She swung around on her horse and gave her faithful dwarves of Erebor the thumbs up before they charged ahead and made their presence known.

As the dwarves charged forward with catapults and long ladders, several fiery shots came off the outer walls and launched out to kill the approaching attackers. Then without command from Asuna, Sinon instinctively held her hand for her archers to notch their bows.

"Aim…and…LOOSE!"

The silent Mirkwood elves nodded, and sent arrows flying over the walls and into the necks of ever orc that was visible. Their aim was impeccable, but their speed was even better. Each time a troupe of orcs cycled in to replace the archers, the elves would end them quickly, giving the dwarves the perfect amount of time to begin their siege.

The feisty little craftsmen set up their catapults with flammable artillery, and just as the orcs found a way to dodge some of the elves arrows, the incendiary bulk shots blew holes right in their high walls, and sent many of them burning to their deaths.

Asuna gave both her friends a quick nod before she signaled to her own troops of Gondor. She had them start wheeling a battering ram down the center of the narrow bridge, and just as the elves picked up their shooting, the dwarves funneled in around the Gondor men and assisted them with broad shields.

Asuna marched forward slowly but surely behind the ram, and with each progressive inch gained she could feel herself growing that much closer to the Nazgûl within. She had no idea how many were inside, or if there even was one at all. However she was still determined to take out this strategic fortress of Mordor just to earn a better foothold to save Kirito.

Lisbethh was pacing her horse past all her catapults while they shot ruby red flaming rocks into the emerald walls of Minas Morgul, and each shot created a micro-explosion that lit the orcs up with bursts of flame, sending them all to fall and clearing a better path for the inside.

Sinon on the other hand left her elves to command themselves while she followed some of Lisbeth's dwarves to the walls of the fort. She waited for them to situate their ladders, but as they did the risky Mirkwood elf jumped past them and grabbed hold of the top of a ladder, and waited as the dwarves pulled her to the top. She jumped off at the opportune moment and sent a dagger right through two orcs' heads, and followed up by taking the other dagger to block an incoming crossbow bolt.

Now that she and several dwarves were on top of the ramparts, Sinon could earn a great view of the inner sanctums of Minas Morgul. The court yard stretched the entire length between the outer and inner curved wall, and appeared to look more like a road than a simple square region. She also saw the Morgul Vale was no more shorted on troops than the Gondorians expected, and she now knew Asuna's army would have to bring all their might to subdue even the front defense of the city.

Without a second hesitation, the master archer pierced several approaching orcs with a single shot, and then twirled around to knock out their own ladder reaching the height of the wall from the inside. She then used her make-shift vantage point to take out as many enemies as she could, while also keeping an eye on the attacking Gondorians on the other side of the wall.

Asuna and her men were now on the forefront of the doors. They were matte black wood with dark steel beams stretched a crossed as supports. They looked firmly locked in place and seemed to require quite the ram to pry them open, but with all the new time secured by Sinon and Lisbeth, the virtual Gondor Queen felt very confident with her chances.

She also turned back around to find a few elves were running up ladders to join Sinon and the dwarves on top of the walls. She figured now was a good chance to send the men of Gondor through the gates, which meant they needed to first take down the doors.

Strike after strike the ram moved back and forth trying to jar the doors open, each time creating a greater crack between both sides. The hinges and the supports along the outsides began to give to the pressure, and just as the doors began to relax, Asuna drew her _Lambent Light._

"Alright, expect to see a big force of enemies blocking our path." She warned them with full anticipation. "When the doors come down, you'll need to draw your shields to…"

Then, as the violent shock of the smashing doors broke her sppech, they all looked in to find Sinon and two other elves currently killing trolls on top of their backs. They pulled out long daggers from the beasts' necks and then flipped off to join Gondor on the ground.

"We need to go right." Sinon commented. "It's the quickest route to the inner rooms."

"Got it." Asuna knew Sinon had spent time with a bird's eye view trying to scope out the best path inside, so she waited for Lisbeth and followed her guide into the inner sanctum.

It was at this time the Ents and Huorns of Fanghorn had finally caught up with their allies. Recon was leading them in a march down the bridge, well past the outer Gondor camps, and now he was quickly approaching the evil city.

However, as Recon's main host of Ents passed by the walls of Minas Morgul, Leafa and Silica took a moment to jump off their own ent and made way for the walls, quickly leaving Recon to join the actual assault.

"Guys, are you leaving me?!" Recon said with confusion.

"Relax!" Leafa yelled back like a mother to her child. "We're gonna play it stealthy for this one. I just want to get back in the throne room and see if this really is where Kirito is." Asuna and Chrysheight has logical guesses as to why this would be where Kirito's Witch-King form would call home, but they had no certainty until they all saw it for themselves. Leafa was growing impatient however and knew she couldn't wait up north with the rest of the main camp.

"Silica, you go along that right side of the fort." Leafa said, pointing in the direction Asuna and the others walked. "I'm going to cover the left side, got it?"

"Um…yea." Silica agreed, but never moved to carry out the suggestion. "Hey…are you feeling okay, Leafa?"

"Y-Yea, why do ask?" Leafa replied with embarrassment.

Silica scratched her head. "I dunno…I remember you had to carry that creepy seeing stone all the way from Rohan down to Gondor, and you've been acting really ambitious lately…" Although nothing had been to note worthy as of yet, Leafa had started to act a little differently ever since they left Edoras for Minas Tirth, more specifically, _one day after_ the Beacons of Gondor lit their flames.

Leafa waved a hand and shook it off. "Silica I'm fine! I just wanted to fight instead of sitting around the northern camp is all…look we'll meet back here by the end of the assault. Worst comes to worse we get caught and have a laugh with the others. It's not like they're our parents, they're our friends!"

"Yea…and one of them's technically a commander." Silica turned with hesitation to the right. "Fine, I'll see you in the end."

Leafa nodded, and both girls set out atop the walls to travel inside the castle.

However, as both girls were just making their first steps inside of Minas Morgul, Asuna and the others were quickly clearing a path towards the throne room.

"KEEP GOING!" Asuna yelled as she pierced several orcs with _Lambent Light_. She twirled around and performed a second sword skill that kept her sword light as a feather, which allowed for her to take on as many enemies as she could hold.

Lisbeth on the other hand was taking a more power-based approach, and found herself using her SAO blacksmith's hammer instead. She wanted to save the golden hammer for just the right occasion, so she made sure to use her lesser weapons when it didn't matter.

Sinon had the same strategy, and although she sued her bow a few time on top of the wall, she kept up with most of the street fights by using her daggers instead. She needed to conserve all the arrows she had in case they came a cross any number of Ringwraiths.

Then, as all three girls and their massive host plowed through the narrow streets of Minas Morgul, they finally came a crossed a set of broad doors that met them up with the inner stronghold of the city. They went t go re-trace their ram, but the doors here opened on their own, revealing a great host of defending orcs, and three black shrouds of death.

The Nazgûl were all 3 identical, menaing none of them were likely to be Kirito. The all pulled out a similar Morgul Sword, and then made their advance onto the Gondor host.

Asuna took a death breath and clutched up on her _Lambent Light_. She also used her free left hand to draw out her _Crest of_ _Yggdrasil_ , and quickly used all the concentration she had to draw out any magic she had floating in her veins.

"Ek kalla hreinn brunnr, andask brandr og eitrið." After reciting a familiar enchantment from ALO, a glassy surface of water formed under her allies, which gave them Hp recovery over time, and also left them resistant to fire and poison.

Lisbeth gave her a nod of approval, and then drew her Lightning Hammer. She gave it a cocky twirl, but knew her foe would not be so easily defeated a third time around. Sinon too had to find a way to get a quick bow shot off without them being able to deflect the arrow.

Asuna then charged the center one, but instead of using her sword, she powered on her magic staff and sent out a quick whip of water. The Aqua Stream spell shot out and smashed into the arm of the center Nazgûl, which left it to scream out in pain.

While it did not disappear, Asuna powered on her sword and gave it a quick slash on the arm, right over the water wound. The beast let out a horrific screech on again, and nearly left the poor girl deaf. She tried getting a better hit on its chest, but she had to roll out in order to dodge a hit form its heavy sword.

Sinon was having trouble a swell. She was forced to use her daggers the whole time because her enemy was charging in too fast for her to load her bow. Her daggers however were only good for defense against a Ringwraith, and without a legendary weapon dealing the final blow, the fight was to be totally useless.

Lisbeth was getting several good hits in, but none of them seemed to be close enough to the beast's chest. While she managed to hit the wraith on the arm seveal times, it was central blows that killed the two on Pelennor Fields. She tried to get in with a better hit towards the middle, and knew the moment her's fell to death she could join one of her friends for a two-one-one.

Asuna continued trying to send out water spells to subdue the enemy, but none were powerful enough to leave more than a temporary scratch on the Ringwraith's arms. Her Aqua Stream and Aqua Bind spells were her best choices, because she only expected any ice spell would melt to the warm air of Minas Morgul.

Asuna was running out of patience as every spell she sent their way failed. Yes, her support spells were supplying her allies with a mini boost, but she only needed tis magic to slay Nazgûl.

Things looked even worse the moment her foe charged in and sent his sword down like a hammer on the poor girl. Her armor was light weight, and her tiny _Lambent Light_ was not a sufficient defensive foil.

As a result she awkwardly moved her left hand (which usually held a shield in her last battle) to block the attack, but the Morgul Sword easily snapped her _Crest of Yggdrasil_ in two like a twig. She now panicked as the sword came down even harder, and nearly took off her left hand.

After getting out alive, Asuna was now returned to her feet with a beating heart faster than a troupe of horses. She was worried because her only legendary weapon was just destroyed, and even before it broke the Crest was not doing very much damage at all.

Asuna threw up her Lambent Light to quickly parry a second swinging attack from the Nazgûl, but the tiny rapier was too little to hold on. She sent the sword flying to save her hand, and then flipped backwards a few times o get out of the skirmish altogether.

The wraith was not finished however, and although Asuna had spared her self a few useful seconds, the dreadful enemy was making his return to finish her off once and for all.

Asuna acted fast to open up her inventory in search of another weapon. She knew there had to be some other choice for her in this battle, and then she found her eyes ignoring her inventory altogether.

"Call horse…MY GONDOR SWORD!" Asuna tapped a call command to her white stallion waiting back at the gateway entrance, and in a quick burst of speed the racing horse ran through the green corridor and found its owner facing off against the Nazgûl.

Asune dodged a new sword attack and let the wraith's strike land in the stone walls behind her, and then spun around to locate the left side of the horse's saddle, which came fully equipped with her great sword of Gondor, Andúril.

She un-sheathed the royal weapon and charged the beast with full on rage. Now Asuna had a fair fight as the two broad swords struck together in a song of battle. Back and forth the warriors collided, and just as the Ringwraith tried to send a second hammer strike down, Asuna charged on her swordskill Flame of the West, and send her steel right through the Morgul Blade, shattering it in two and piercing the Nazgûl right in the upper chest.

Then low and behold, the monster started to wither around in pure agony, but not like anything Asuna had seen before. Unlike her fight vs Kirito and the Ringwrath at Osgiliath, this one mimicked the two slayed by Lisbeth on the Pelennor Field. It began withering to the ground until a giant implosion caused a shock wave of energy to scatter the nearby field with debris, and in a burst of impact towards the air, the Nazgûl was killed and logged out of MEO.

"Wha-…?" Asuna stood with trembling confusion as she had no idea what just happened. She looked over to find her broken wand of Yggdrasil lying on the floor, and then again at her shining blade Andúril firmly placed in her hands.

She let out a bright smile and found a new note clicking inside her head. "Hey guys! I think Andúril is a Legendary Weapon too!" She alerted Lisbeth and Sinon of this new discovery, but both girls seemed to be a little busy at the moment.

"Agh…" Lisbeth said as she was holding off her own Ringwraith. "That's…really…great…Asuna."

"OH I'M SORRY!" Asuna said as she went to charge the enemy attacking her friend, but before she landed a hit Lisbeth yelled out one more reply.

"NO! Asuna just keep going! Sinon and I got this!"

Asuna looked at them confused, but then noticed the orc armies were quickly falling to her forces. She knew her army would gain victory sooner or later, which meant Lisbeth and Sinon would slay their wraiths as well.

She gave them a nod and turned towards the inner sanctum to locate the throne room. After finding a creepy twisting cavern of black and green lit hallways, Asuna came a crossed a large steel door sitting at the center line of the hall.

Asuna saw no guards or enemies near by, which gave her enough time to take hold of the doors and push them open to enter the hall beyond. The room was dark but elaborate, almost a blackened mirror image of the throne room atop the walls of Minas Tirith. Asuna looked around everywhere to see walls full of dark and malicious weaponry, almost looking like a fully stocked arsenal for the nine immortal men.

She also noticed a small pedestal to the right that held a black and orange marble sphere, but the only sight that had her full attention was the center empty throne at the the end of the hall, followed by the sight of the abandoned helmet of the Witch-King sitting at the foot of the chair.

Asuna trembled for a moment with pure confusion. She put away her weapon and knelt down to take the helmet into her hands. He had to be here somewhere, she thought to herself constantly to reassure her plan's success. Asuna didn't even care if he was still evil, she just wanted some sign or confirmation to know he was still salvageable.

She then heard the sound of evil and flame coming from the right side of the room. She cleared her mind and stood back up to see the black marble was now engulfed with internal flames.

Now with a face of anger, Asuna recognized the flaming image in the seeing stone as the eye of shadow and flame form her visions with the Ring. She had lost all her patience playing in this game, and as a result she walked up to greet this stone with a silent message.

The eye opened wide to grant a full view of her presence, and just then Asuna removed Andûril from her sheath, and then held the Witch-King's helm in her other hand. She gave the marble one last look before tossing the helmet in the air and slicing it in two with a powered n sword skill from the Gondor sword.

The eye looked on with caution and amusement, and then went away in a ball of flame, only to be replaced by a blurry image of a figure lying cold on the ground.

Asuna stood hesitant until the image came into full view, and just then she dropped the sword and fell to her knees. Her head began to explode with pure confusion as the image frightened her beyond all belief, and without taking any more time to ponder the dreadful thoughts of the premonition, she grabbed her sword, and the seeing stone, and made her exit out of the throne room.

Then, several moments later…

"Alright! It better be in here, or else you'll be sorry!" A high pitched female voice was shouting off at some poor soul on the left side of the hallway. Leafa held an orc NPC by the beck of his collar and forced him down a hall to locate the throne room of the Nazgûl leaders.

The orc cowered in fear as he tried to keep his head, and just as they came a crossed the doors he shouted and pointed at the portal entrance. "Here it is miss! Right though those doors!"

"Grr…" Leafa looked on with annoyed rage as she forced him through the room first. She had begun to grow angrier and angrier by the second in this shadowy land, though this was completely odd compared to her demeanor back in Gondor.

Leafa looked around to find the nine empty thrones sitting there like before, and also found the words spoken by her goblin captive to be false. "You said he was in here with Sauron!"

"NO MA'AM!" The orc cowered again. "I-I said they were in here only a day ago! I figured at least one of them would still be here!" He began looking around and saw the missing Palantír off the pedestal, and just as his eyes left the top of the plinth, he let out a tiny shriek once he located the broken helm at its base.

Leafa followed the sounds being made by her hostage as only a sign of something bad, but she was only left with confusion as the helmet of the Witch-King laid broken on the floor. The orc knew she was confused, and he decided to give her a clue.

"That's h-his helmet, miss…that belonged to the Witch-King."

"This is…Kirito's…" She began looking around the empty room until she took him by the collar again with even higher rage. "What could break a helmet like this!?"

"AGH…" The orc let out a cry of fear, as he himself could only think of one person in his own bank of knowledge who could do such a thing.

"Ma'am…the only one I know who could do that is…the _one._ "

Leafa leaned back to collect the mysterious saying, she then triggered it as only Sauron. With a brain becoming cloudy with rage, she had only one thought on her mind. "You're saying he's in Mordor now…?"

The orc nodded, but now saw a look of madness in her eyes. He knew the city was under attack, but he was still wondering why this lone elf was wondering around the castle all by herself. HE then looked down at the hand around his collar and saw a shiny jewel of blue on a band of gold, symbolizing one of the three elven Rings of Power.

Then, he grew a small spine and found a grin take his face. "Y-yes miss…I'm afraid so…in fact there's only one quick route into Mordor from here, and i-if your army is in the north like you said before…it's the only way they could have taken."

"Leafa's eye began to twitch as she disliked his creepy smiling face, but she was running out of time in her mind. She lifted him higher in the air and got right in his face.

"Okay, cut the crap…tell me where to go."

"Y-yes, certainly…" The orc nodded but gave her a complimentary smile as he thought about getting his hands of that ring. "You must take the dark road into the mountains to find your missing friend. You must travel…the _Stair of Cirith_ _Ungol_."

* * *

 **Okay, Leafa seems to be in an odd mental state...I wonder what's going on...**

 **New chapter Monday! Hopefully anyway lol...**


	42. 42: The Lair of his Pet Cat

**Author's Note: Welcome back gang! We're getting our first technical steps into Mordor today, so it'll all be exciting! Pleas enjoy! (Also if anyone's a fan the 10th and newest episode of Sword Art Online Abridged came out yesterday! SO FUNNY!)**

 **Also, I do not own Sword Art Online or the Lord of the Rings.**

* * *

Chapter Forty Two

The Lair of his Pet Cat

 _"We'll see...It may well be, O yes, it may well be that when She throws away the bones and the empty garments, we shall find it, we shall get it, the Precious, a reward for poor Sméagol who brings nice food..."_

—Sméagol, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

"SHE'S _GONE!?_ "

Asuna Yuuki had just successfully liberated and salvaged the lair of Minas Morgul, and reclaimed it under the virtual banner of Gondor. Although the city was not appropriate for any means of living, it did eliminate an important strategic location for the enemy host, and theoretically destroyed the re-spawn points for all remaining Nazgûl.

With the thrones of the Ringwraiths accounted for, they now had only one goal left, and that meant the great host of the north would begin their march to the Dagorlad and into the Seige of Morannon—The Black Gate of Mordor.

However while Asuna and her grouped commanders make their new retreat out of the desolate city, she has just been struck with bewildering news, her friend and co-captain of the elf squads Leafa was missing.

Recon and the now discovered Silica stood by with low hanging heads as they tried to avoid eye contact with Asuna or the others, and the latter spoke first. "Y-yea…and we know we shouldn't have been here either."

"No kidding." Lisbeth said as she passed back and forth in the background. "You guys could have just chilled out in the north, and hell how did Agil and Chrysheight let you leave anyway!?"

"…" Sinon had no real words to add into the conversation, which left Recon for a defense of his own. "Asuna…I'm sorry. Don't blame Silica, and don't even blame Leafa…it was my fault for agreeing to carry them in."

"…" Asuna paused before turning back around. "Recon, I'm not a mom, I'm you friend. I don't care if you had them tag along, but the fact that they did it without telling me is what bothers me…" She then turned to Silica. "You said you really didn't want to join in, but that you did it for Leafa in stead."

"Y-yea…that's totally true. I felt so bad for her." She argued. "Leafa's been pretty stressed out this whole time, she's just done a good job at hiding it."

"Yea, b-but the fact that she's missing!?" Recon blurted out. "I don't know why she would leave us without saying where she went?"

"Maybe she went back to the camp in the north." Sinon suggested. "It'd be pretty embarrassing to sit here fighting while she's been there the whole time."

"No…" Silica shook her head. "She wouldn't have done that…she came here looking for something, and judging by the look in her eye during the siege, I think she wanted it really badly."

Lisbeth stopped walking in a line and then stepped up behind Asuna. "Ya think she was looking for Kirito's body?"

"Hmm…" Asuna began thinking extensively about the possibilities, but from the sounds of everything, perhaps Leafa wasn't the one making the decisions at all.

Then, it hit her. "Wait…When was the last time Leafa removed her Ring?"

The whole group had widened eyes right at the same time, and Recon was the first to answer. "Um, I don't know if she ever did. She used it to train in Lothlórien, and she needed her ring to use magic."

"True that." Lisbeth agreed. "I smithed her sword to stand alone like everyone else's, but I had no way of helping her magic power. She probably uses the Ring to help boost her manna and use certain spells."

"She needs the Ring to use her… _power_." Asuna let everything sink in before her eyes lit up with all the fear in the world. Leafa never removed her Ring ever since she left Lothlórien, which means she's had it on the entire time ever since, including right now, while Klint Rojer held the One.

"…" Asuna had no comment, and all her emotions blanked from her face as she looked right to the ground. Asuna knew the One Ring created an unwanted desire for certain things, and knowing it can manipulate lesser rings in the hands of Klint, it was only a matter of putting two and two together.

"Leafa…she needs to take that Ring off her finger."

Everyone red her face for a brief moment, but after confusion turned into horror, they all understood the issue loud and clear.

Lisbeth shouted out first. "Well that's great! We have no idea where she is!?"

Sinon looked right at Asuna. "Would she have anywhere to go after being controlled? Or would Klint make her go somewhere unusual?"

"Mordor?" Asuna replied. "I mean he would want all his servants to go there, so maybe she…climbed the mountains." Asuna lingered in her last sentence, and everyone's eyes followed hers as they all looked to a tall, and very steep staircase carved into the rock, which made a horrible but still clear path into the lands of shadow.

Everyone fell silent, and then Recon let out a long sigh. "Well…I better get going."

"WHAT!?" Everyone yelled out, and Asuna spoke first. "Hold on, I've taken command, so she's sort of my responsibility."

"Right." Recon said. "But I led her here, which means it's probably my mess to fix."

Silica started bitting her lip before she threw her hands in the air. "Oh fine! I let her do it too, and I followed her here when no one else would! Recon, I'm going too."

"Okay hold up!" Lisbeth put her foot down. "You're both really valuable, but Recon your army is all finished up here in the green 'Count Dracula's palace.' Silica though? You're like the second in command, and you have all those Rohan guys who listen to you the best!"

"I know…" Silica agreed while she tightened the straps on her boots. "But this was my mistake just as much as Recon's. If Leafa became the next Kirito, I'd never forgive myself."

Sinon shook her head. "I'm with Lisbeth. I mean we don't even know if she's up there or not."

"We can use a map!" Recon pointed out. "As soon as she comes close enough to our radar, her signal will begin to flash. We'll keep an eye on it and see if she shows up."

Everyone fell silent, and all eyes went to Asuna as she looked to a rising sun in the north east, but barely anything showed through the climbing ash of Mordor.

Then, she let out a sigh, and smiled. "I can't tell you guys what to do, after all it's kind of what got us here in the first place…good luck guys. Please stay safe."

Now we begin our trek up the long winding stair case of stones that cuts the outer surface of the Ephel Dúath. This region in the Morgul Vale is also know as the Stair case of Cirith Ungol.

Cirith Ungol was located on the north shoulder of the Morgul Pass. These two passes through the western mountains of Mordor were the only way towards the land from the west. Its bastion to the east was known as the main structure of defense that blocked travelers from freely walking the passes and entering into Mordor. However, along with the treacherous stair case to the west and the well fortified tower to the east, this mountain pass also had a _unique defense_ of its own.

It is here that the lone warrior of the alliance, Leafa, carried her captive orc and marched him up the stairs and into the first flights of Mordor. She had grown rather impatient with the current mission, and now that Minas Morgul had proven to be totally useless (in her eyes alone), she now needed to gain more information by storming the lands of Mordor undetected.

However, the orc with her had plans of his own, and most inloved the discovery of one particular piece of jewelry found on Leafa's right hand. Most of Sauron's minions knew the Rings of Power when they saw them, and now that they master had control of The One, the bearers of the lesser rings would eventual fall under his spell, that is if they kept the rings on long enough.

The orc could tell by her eyes and demeanor alone that Leafa had not taken her ring off for a long time, and for that reason he felt responsible for taking her…or her Ring alone, to his master.

Now, Leafa marches through a dark and windy cave looking for the eastward exit into Mordor. "Okay, so how long until we get into Mordor? A day? Two?"

"Pardon miss, but it should actually be within the current day…that is if we keep out feet and wits about us." He walked out in front of her with a loose chain holding his neck, and this gave him the perfect hidden presence to let out a sly grin of his own.

Leafa hated the sound of his voice, and the smell of his skin for that matter too, and she made no extra attempt to recognize his presence. "Okay…just make sure we get to the right place. If I have to march you all the way to Sauron's castle I will."

"Oh miss, hopefully we'll find what you're looking for before we walk _that_ far…"

Leafa rolled her eyes, and kept her distance extra long as she could now catch an even worse odor from his rotting skin. Then, after smelling the air for a brief moment she realized it wasn't the orc who smelled at all.

It was the cave, this fowl, rotting cave. Something was making it smell beyond a word's description. The cave itself was at the utmost top of the dangerous staircase, and was shrouded in shadow and darkness. The tunnel walls themselves were also very smooth, as if worn by immeasurable touching. It looked like something had carved out perfect round walls, but it would definitely have to be something big enough to do so. In fact it was all wide enough for the small party to walk side by side with their outstretched hands touching the side walls.

Inside lying on the ground there were also small fractions of skeletons and rotting corpses, and this became more apparent ever since they drove deeper into the pits. Leafa felt a cold chill take her spine, but the fire in her heart and mind kept her eyes fixated on the path before her. She was full of determination to guide a way out of the cave and enter into Mordor. If she were lucky she would not only find the missing body of Kirito, but she would also provide her friends with an extra way into Mordor.

 _"_ _Yea…that's right!"_ She convinced herself in silent thought. _"I can find Kirito, run back down the steps, and tell my friends about this place. We can take part of the armies through here and sneak into Mordor!"_ She had grown so proud of herself ever since she decided to make the lone trip up the stairs, and even though her company could have been better, the thought that she would be the one to find Kirito really brought warmth to her heart.

She also grew tired from all her friend's waiting around. She understood some missions took more precaution than others, but this was Kirito, they needed to act as fast as possible.

" _I could have told them where I went…but come on, they were never going to let me come up here on my own. It's all starting to piss me off actually…_ " She tried to keep her feet straight, but her thoughts were starting to pick up pace in her mind. " _They all seem more focused with beating Klint anyway…it's like they forgot why we came here! Yea they found some of those wraith guys in Minas Morgul, but none of them were Kirito…and then they wasted time saving them?! UGH! I don't get it sometimes…_ "

She then looked down and rubbed her blue and golden ring, _Vilya_ , with her thumb. " _They know I beat Sigurd, right? If they want Klint dead, they could have just came right to me…I mean I want to make sure we get Kirito out first, then we can stop the creators…_ "

Leafa was losing so much focus she almost stubbed her toe on a rock. She then took a laugh from the roc as he turned around.

"Seems like we're lost in thoughts…that or we can't handle the darkness?"

"Ghh…shut up…I don't care about darkness…" She rolled her eyes and drew out a small elven dagger from Lothlórien. Since this was an elven weapon straight from MEO, and because she was travelling with an orc, the sword lit up with a brilliant blue light to guide them on the rest of their journey.

The orc laughed again and raised his head. "Gyah! I'm not much for suckin' up to elves, but I will admit you've got some nice gear!"

"Hmph…" Leafa rolled her eyes and tried ignoring him. This left him to carry on.

"Speaking of which…I noticed you've got quite the fancy ring there…must be pretty valuable where you're from."

"Hmm…" Leafa let out a small laugh of her own. "Yea well I'd say it means more to you MEO freaks than it does to…" She then stopped, and realized the fact he knew about her ring left her angry, and nervous, all at the same time.

Leafa wearily rubbed the ring with her thumb again, and then raised an eyebrow. She figured she should probably take it off for now and keep it in her pocket for safe keeping. These orcs were small in Mordor, and she knew her sword alone would treat her well in a cave like this.

Leafa quickly stopped the walk and slipped the ring Vilya off her finger, but as she popped it into a pocket on her blouse, her eyes lit up and cleared a great bit of cloudiness from the outsides.

"Wha-…what just happened." She quickly realized the cave was very dark, but now without her ring, it was as if a floating cloud of shadow had lifted off her shoulders and away from the corners of her eyes. And the weight, the weight of twenty stones had just removed themselves from her body, which allowed her to take bigger breaths and think clearer thoughts.

Then it hit her. She had no idea where she was, or who she was with. She took a look deeper into the cave, and noticed the walls appeared to be not only smoothed out, but they were also sticky, with innumerable webs forming a vast maze of tunnels right in the direction they were walking.

Leafa's heart started racing, and now she was beginning to worry. " _No! Where am I?! Who the hell is this creepy orc!? Where are my…my friends…_ "

Leafa vaguely remembered seeing her friends as they left Minas Tirith, but ever since they grew closer to Mordor, her memories became shrouded in fog. She had no idea what darkness took her mind for its own, but now she had it back at a very pivotal time.

Leafa tugged on the chain hanging off the orc's neck and pulled him in close to meet the edge of her sword. She then looked him in the eyes with pure rage as she now had full control of her conscious. "Where are we, you monster? Why did you take me here!?"

The orc began breathing for his life as he could now plainly see the regular Leafa was back, and now that she had her corrupted Ring of Power removed from her finger, the orc felt his time would soon be up if he refused to act fast.

"U-UHM…MISS YOU TOLD ME TO T-TAKE YOU HERE…I ONLY W-WANTED T-TOO…!"

"AGH JUST SHUT UP!" Leafa pressed the sword deeper into his neck. "You knew I was being manipulated by something, and you wanted me to go somewhere didn't you!?"

"I…I…" The orc looked around and tried to find a rock or old weapon or bone to strike his captor with, but as his eyes traveled through the cavern, a small twinge caused the thin webs to ove along the walls.

The orc started cracking a sarcastic smile and looked her in the eye. "I…I wanted to bring you here Miss…right to _Her Ladyship_."

The orc yanked on the chain around his neck and pulled himself loose from Leafa's grip, and then spun it around to strike Leafa in the head. She swung her sword upward, but only got part of the chain as the last knob snapped her in the head, which cause her to yell out and fall over. Meanwhile the orc lost momentum as Leafa pulling him was the only thing keeping him from falling backwards, and now that he was free the orc tumbled into the back wall and landed in a flat bed of fresh white webbing.

Leafa stood with stars in her eyes as she rubbed a tiny lump on her head, and then located her sword and went to strike the orc. She pulled the dagger from the sticky ground, and went to kill her enemy until she heard a noise coming from the caves behind her.

Leafa had no idea what it was, but it sounded large and menacing. She looked down to the orc, and noticed his eyes seemed to be familiar with whatever it was, and they were not forgiving by any means.

As a result, she ditched the screaming orc to cry and yell in fear on his own, and darted down a loose corridor to try and find her own way out. She had lost which way they came from, but could see a pale light at several ends of the east tunnel.

Leafa hurtled several rocks and long stretches of ropy webs, which stretched a crossed several passages of the cave like cloths lines between buildings. She thought about hacking at a few of them with her ALO sword, but was too worried one might come up too sticky and snatch the sword right out of her hand.

She could no longer hear the light screams of the orc, which either meant she was too far away from the echoes, or whatever was chasing her found him first. She thought it was the best time to slow her mind down and locate the best possible route out.

"Okay, I need to get out fast before…wait there's a clearing!" She could see the outline of a black tower through two cracked rocks in the foreground, and noticed a fire was lit at the top symbolizing some sort of civilization. She knew they were evil, but it meant the cave was coming to an end. Right as she ran to the opening however, a figure ran out from the other path leading in and tackled her to the ground.

"THERE YOU ARE, YOU ELF BITCH!" It was the same orc whom she left to die back inside the cave. Leafa tried to roll over to combat her attacker, but noticed his leg was bloodied and limp. It appeared he tried hacking his way out of his trap webs, but missed a few times and skinned his own calf in the process.

Leafa kicked him in the open wound, and tried flipping around her sword to stick the enemy, but he quickly knocked it out in the open field and held her right hand on the ground.

However, what he wasn't expecting was the fact that she also still had her illuminated elven dagger, and using her left hand she drew the blade from her belt once more and pierced the orc in the right shoulder.

He let out a cry and rolled off her holding his wound, and now he looked to nearly pass out. Leafa tried shuffling to her feet in order to grab her actual sword, but there appeared to be something very dark and disgusting that found it first.

She had great spindly legs, multiple eyes, and venomous pincer-like chelicerae to round out its deformed face. Her head was criss-crossed with scars, and she had a number of missing eyes, most of which found themselves in the center of her view. Finally, a great black abdomen protruded from her main body that looked like it weighed the size of a young elephant, and could easily crush anything underneath.

Leafa's limbs began to tremble at the horrible sight of the creature, with her eyes watching its repulsive, drooling pincer. Its feet appeared to move quick, but its body made no sudden movement as long as Leafa held a dimly glowing sword.

 _"_ _It didn't kill the orc in the cave…it let him escape to find me too!"_ She thought about the spider's horrible hunting technique used back inside the lair, and then noticed her current dagger would not be enough to slay such a gargantuan creature. She also saw her elven longsword from ALO sitting slightly underneath the beast's behind, but also continued to notice the poisonous teeth exiting from its mouth.

 _"_ _If I could just use my ring for a little…agh! It'll probably just take me over again!"_ Leafa's internal conflict was not lying for rest now that she needed its power for her magic to fully activate. If she was given proper time, her spells might have actually worked without the ring, but she spent too much time in devotion to its presence that they would be of little use in a full on fight such as this.

Leafa could tell by her glowing blade that the orc behind her was still alive, so she had to act fast before she was left with a two-on-one situation. She slashed at its front legs, and forced it to back up against a wall before rolling towards the right to slide and get her sword.

Her hand barely missed the biting spider's teeth before she swung another strike at its left front leg. She then had to prioritize before jumping in. _"It'll probably poison me if I let its teeth touch my skin…I have to avoid its front at all cost."_

She then saw it was half way up the wall, and gave another slash towards the air until she slid forward to reach out and grab the sword.

The spider jumped over her, though it actually got more air than she expected. It completely ignored crushing her with its weight, which gave Leafa enough time to grab onto the blade of her sword.

"YES! Now I can…!" She went to speak, but felt a sharp point take her lower back. Her head slowly twitched upwards to find the spider hanging on top of the ceiling with its upper legs, and then realized it now had a dreadful sting protruding from its lower abdomen, which was now sticking into her body.

"It's…got a… _stinger_ …?" Leafa's skin went soft and her muscles felt weak as she dropped her sword and fell forward in an unconscious dread. The spider jumped down to lay her softly on the ground, but left the elf there alone without doing anything else.

That is because the beast soon heard the orc behind her screaming in his flight to leave the cave. It twirled around and jutted its stinger in the pour soul as well, and then began its webbing process on the orc, and left Leafa for leater. She, the great _Shelob_ , usually immobilized her prey with her paralyzing sting that enabled her to feed on her victims at her leisure, but she could also crush her prey to death by swiftly dropping on them. The Orcs of Mordor comment she usually would paralyze her victims and trap them in webs, keeping them alive for some time before killing them.

Now she was practicing this process on the orc by swiftly wrapping him up in a tight cocoon of webs, and left Leafa to stay passed out for later.

Shelob quickly finished with the orc, and pinned his body to the wall to her left, and then stepped around to find the blonde Galadhrim elf lying cold and unconscious on the floor. Yet as she turned around to begin the second process, a new light shone out from the cave just beyond Leafa's lifeless body.

"Þeír slíta fimm grœnn vindr!"

Recon shot out a bold light of _Vacuum Blades_ right form his hands and into the eyes of Shelob, which caused her to scurry back and claw at her slef to ease the current pain.

Recon slipped his dwarven Ring of Power from his small hobbit hand and pulled out two daggers to begin his fight. Like Leafa, Recon too relied on his ring to use magic, but because his hands were too small to constantly hold his ring, he always found himself wearing it in natural does, which helped him avaoid prolonged terms of corruption.

"AGH!" Now Recon charged forward with eyes of fire and two elven steel daggers, and Shelob had earned enough time as well to charge the approaching hafling with great stride. They both collided, but Shelob used one of her long front legs to smack him into the wall.

Recon tried prying his arms off the sticky cob webs along the cave's surface, and then braced himself as Shelob raised her stinger to gut him in his side, but as she pulled back to make her attack, the valiant blade _Sting_ came through and sliced her on the side.

"AGHA!" Silica twirled into view and gave Shelob another slash on the fore body, which caused her to scurry back once more in shear pain from all the blades about her. Recon finally pried himself loose form the wall, and stood on his feet with the help of Silica.

She gave him a nod, and then drew her _Ebon Dagger_ from SAO. After powering on a quick swords skill, Recon put his ring back on once more to begin enchanting support magic.

"AGHHHHHH!" Both Silica and Recon yelled with anger as the little Rohirric queen charged forward and pierced Shelob right through the gut with her small but potent Ebon Dagger. The sting from Shelob's back side twitched about in place as the rest of her body found its life leaving from the pain.

She blinked through her many injured eyes only for a brief moment before crying out a horrible, guttural sound and collapsing to the ground, smacking against the stone like a great earthquake in a city.

Silica and Recon stood with high paced lungs as their breaths raced through the moment. They both lowered their arms and looked at one another with satisfaction and determination.

Then Recon stepped off to locate Leafa's fallen body, but as he looked over the dead spider's corps, his eyes lit up with fear.

"No…NO! LEAFA!?"

Recon ran about the small rocky chamber, and Silica too panicked in the quick moment as neither of them could find their friend. With the removal of the hanging orc, and the dead spider's body, they were the only beings left in the cave.

Leafa was completely gone, and completely out of sight from her friends.

* * *

 **Okay some heavy drama coming into play! We'll find more tomorrow! (Also no I'm not just having Leafa play some useless damsel in distress...she actually has an important purpose coming up!)**


	43. 43: Captives in the Tower

**Author's Note: Hello! We have a few mini story lines to catch back up on, but more importantly find out where our missing blonde elf friend went off to. Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Forty Three

The Captives of the Tower

 _"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost."_

—J.R.R. Tolkien, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

"Geeze! I didn't expect you to be so emotional about it!"

Klein found himself in a desert fighting pit at the center of a remote Northern Haradrim village. The crowd was large, but they were not supporting our fiery friend from ALO. Instead they seemed to support their hometown guard, who was stopped off with Klein, the other prisoners, and his army as they made their way further north towards Gondor.

Klein spun around trying to dodge a terrible hack from the enemy's long and sharp halberd, which looked almost two bodies in length. He rolled out and slammed his back into the wall of the arena to dodge the blade, and then pressed off to join the fight once more.

People hissed and booed, and some even threw objects or rotten food at the player while he danced around with his virtual enemy, but because life in the game seemed to be a little more important to Klein, he wasn't about to give his up just yet.

Klein gave his SAO sword _Karakurenai_ a twirl before stepping forward to provide the opponent with a little suspense of his own.

The Haradrim warrior laughed and went to stab Klein right in the chest, but the swift ranger kicked up some dirt and watched as the guard charged forward into a blind cloud of nothing. He then brought down his katana to finish the Haradrim off, but the blade met the long and sturdy handle of the halberd in the process.

The Haradrim man lowered his control on the pike and brought the skirmish into a close conversation. He sized Klein up and then looked him in the eyes. "I already know you're no Gondor soldier…you fight too smart for a Gondor soldier."

Klein grinned and gave him a wince. "Gee, the compliment is awfully nice…but…" he then gained leverage in the battle and brought his sword closer to the Haradrim's chest.

"I…don't have…time for…TALKING!" Klein powered on a glowing orange sword skill and "reavered" right into the broad chest of the well-armored Haradrim soldier. The desert warrior let out his last ever breath as his eyes lit up in shock, and then looked down to find the katana sticking right through his metal chest plate to end the battle then and there.

He slowly raised his head and gave Klein a glare through his dying eyes, and then fell off the back end of the sword before dropping his weapon, and falling to his inevitable defeat.

The crowd carried mixed emotions, but some even gave Klein slight praise for actually walking away from the battle alive. They could tell he was not native to the desert, so to last this long in a battle and win none the less was surely impressive even for the enemy.

Klein gave his minor supporters a wave before dropping his sword at an oncoming wall of guards. They plowed through the arena doors and held spears in his face to keep him from making any sudden moves, which left him fearing for his future.

"Oh-kay…I told ya I wasn't from Gondor, and now you know I'm not…hell judging by my fighting styles in the desert, I think we might be more similar than we think."

The center few guards all looked around with raised eyebrows, and then heard a shout form a commander approaching form the back. They parted ways and revealed one of the same warriors that talked with Klein in the prison camps just one day ago, and this time he had his mask down and a sarcastic smile plastered on his face.

"Well you are quite the crafty northerner! No foreign bastard has ever lased that long in a Haradrim fight, let alone win the damned thing!" He gave Klein a clap before picking up the red and silver katana and gave it a quick glance.

"And my lord, what an impressive blade. This I hear comes from the lands beyond the sea? _ALfheim_ is it?"

"Eh…sort of." Klein himself currently came right out of ALO, but the fact that the sword technically came form SAO did not get revealed, because Klein did not fancy the idea of telling his armed captor he was wrong.

"Y-Yea…we'll just say I got it on the way, hey listen! You guys are actually pretty cool! I never told anyone that I enjoyed the view on the walk in. Nice little village you got here!"

The Haradrim man laughed and tossed Klein the sword. "Hehe…that's 'cause we know when and when _not_ to let the damned orcs come through our lands. They act like they own the damned place when they march around looking for their next slaves or prisoners, so we only let them do what they want in small amounts as long as they don't hurt our natives."

"Ah-huh…" Klein said as he quickly put the sword away and followed the man out. "And you don't feel bad about abandoning your fellow man?"

"Fellow man?!" The Harad man spat on the ground. "The Gondorians? They treat us like animals. We don't have their pale skin or their lush green fields this far north in Harad, so they act like we must be the inferior civilization among the two of us. We remained neutral for many years, until the Dark Lord asked for our service in the second age. We lost sight of our own desires from there on and followed him into every battle."

"Hmm…" Klein riskily started scratching his chin. "Sounds ta me like a one-way relationship…"

The Harad man stopped walking as soon as they reached the village street and gave Klein a long pause of a look. Klein didn't feel like standing, so he wrapped an arm around the man and continue walking. Two guards behind them raised pikes, but because of the commander's calm attitude, they seemed to act the same.

"Well I mean, we've got you're men, fighting other men? And you're taking orders from creepy little goblins living in a black desert to the east? Sounds kinda crappy on your end. I mean what do you even get out of it?" Klein asked with certainty of an answer.

The commander raised an eyebrow and began to think. "W-well, the Dark Lord needs our men, and in return he grants us lands to the north in the more fertile country, that is after we take it from Gondor."

Klein shook his head and clicked his lips. "Come on…from what I see you guys haven't moved once. All's you're doing is fighting Gondor for some dried up sea of rocks. Meanwhile Sauron gets to kill you guys off in battle so long as he saves some of his own troops."

That made the entire convoy halt at the foot of the commander. He then turned out from under Klein's arm and slightly lowered his expression.

"What are you implying?"

Klein shrugged and held up his hands. "Absolutely nothing. I'm only thinking of a map, and I'm seeing that you guys are in league with a pretty crappy ally." He then laughed and snapped his fingers. "Which reminds me, can I get my boys released from the cells? We actually have a mission in Mordor that's really time heavy and…"

"A mission…in _Mordor_ you say?" The commander of the local battalion started scratching is short black beard even more before he turned and looked out to a warm, desolate horizon. He then made his glance turn towards the grey east where the finale stretches of the Shadow Mountains met the northern borders of Harondor.

Finally, he grinned and gave Klein a reply. "Mordor. Well, I belive we need to stop off to our liege lords and 'renegotiate' our terms of service."

Klein started internally laughing, because right then he knew he had just broken the game's natural faction system, all with a smooth slight of tongue.

Therefore, he gave the man a bow and smiled into the dirt. "Well, I'm always looking for more people to travel with…lead the way."

* * *

While Klein was enlisting the help of a brand new faction, a small army of orcs scurries and scatters about the fortification located at the central Shadow Mountains of Western Mordor. Here they stay on guard and watch at the small passage way that leads through the mountains, the caves of Cirith Ungol.

The Tower of Cirith Ungol was originally a watchtower of Gondor, guarding the high pass and made by the Gondorians some time after the Siege of Barad-dûr at the end of the Second Age. Its principal purpose was to defend Ithilien from attacks from Sauron's remaining servants. It also served to stop Sauron's servants from returning to Mordor.

The Tower stood against the mountain face near the highest ridge of the Ephel Dúath. From the west only the round, topmost turret was visible. The turret was supported by three great tiers that jutted out in a sharp angle, pointing eastward into Mordor. The lowest tier was encircled by a battlement wall that enclosed a narrow court. The main gate pierced the south-eastern wall. A broad road ran along a precipice from the gate down to a southward bend and down to the road through the Morgul Pass. A narrower path led up from the gate by stairs to Cirith Ungol. This tower, along with the dreaded paths of Shelob's Lair, stood as the only primary western defenses inside Mordor proper.

Now, we come a crossed a great host of support orcs prepping themselves for a new set of orders. This small outpost army was always very rowdy and rambunctious compared to their companions in the rest of Mordor, which was in part due to their isolation from the others by means of the Fields of Gorgoroth.

Here is where we find our missing body from the valiant battle against Shelob. Leafa lied unconscious as her friends fought to slay the dreadful spider, but while they were occupied with the beast, a crew of two or three orcs heard the ruckus and made their way into the lair. By the time they came to, they all noticed the two swordsmen fighting the spider queen appeared to be from the north, with one of them carrying a distinctive Rohirric chestplate. They then realized the fallen elf beauty was their ally, and as a result took her body up before they could grasp what happened.

They carried her body through the Under-way pass and into the Undergate that, besides the main gate of the Tower, was the only entrance inside the fortress. Leafa had not made a sound, and barely moved outside of her soft, unconscious breaths. The orcs took her into the inner sanctum of the Cirith Ungol Tower and found a nice location for their fainted prisoner there.

Suddenly though, a violent jolt up a few flights of stairs woke Leafa from her strong but passive coma. Her head rang out like a bell, and her eyes were still blurry and faded from the lasting effects of the venom.

"Ugh…I…uh, what happened…?" Leafa raised her head off of a firm object and tried looking around, but then felt a mini heart attack the moment she realized her legs were not moving, and in fact she was being carried by someone else.

"What?! W-What's going on!?" The blonde Galadhrim elf's hands were tied together in the front, and they came around and connected under the chin of a tall, brutish orc running up the steps of the Cirith Ungol. He realized she was a wake, but paid her no mind as he and the others continued running up the steps.

Instead, he looked over to his co-guards. "Oy, the little bitch woke up."

The smaller but sharper goblin yelled out a reply as he turned his head around. "Okay? What you want me to do, feed her? Keep your mouth shut 'til we get upstairs!"

"What the hell is going…!?" Leafa went to yell out a threat, but found a knife take her face from the right, and then saw a third orc holding it out of her view.

"You best shut the hell up, miss. We'll take you to a cell, and you'll sit there for us until we figure out what ta do with ya." He tried sounding civil, but the chuckling and evil grimace on his face hardly made him look serious.

Leafa yelled out again and began to squirm with rage, but felt a smack on her venom wound from the orc behind. Her middle back began to throb with pain until she let out one more yell to compensate for the stinging, and fell silent for the remainder of the journey.

Now, they finally made it to the pinnacle of the tower, and while there seemed to be a bright light of red flame sitting in the top, the room seemed to be very desolate with the exception of a few prison cells. Only one or two orcs guarded at a time, and even with their supposed valuable hostages, they seemed to be rather lax for the situation at hand.

"Alright. Show the elf to her new home." The lead orc laughed as he slapped a cage with darkened grey bars. It was alone, and with the exception of the other cage in the corner it was the only one open.

However one of the room guards began scratching his head. "Um…w-well sorry but we can't exactly…"

"Grrr…" The command orc started getting mad and drew a brown whip from his belt. "DO I HAVE TO WRITE IT OUT WITH YOUR BLOOD!? Open the damned cage!"

"She can't get her own cage!" Yelled the other guard. "Our current prisoner tried breaking out and shattered the lock. We confiscated what he had pulled out in his hands and stuffed him in the other one."

"Ugh!" The main orc cracked the whip into the brick wall. "Just shove her in any of the bloody cages! I don't give a damned if she's sharing one with the wargs!"

The two orcs nodded and opened up the second cage, and lying in the back was a hunk of black that looked like a sleeping prisoner. It never moved while the door came rattling open, and just then the largest orc in the room flipped the light headed elf around on her feet and shoved her into the cage.

The dizzy Leafa fell right on her knees and nearly fell forward as the orcs slammed the cage shut behind her, and if she could reach the buttons on her menu she nearly had the audacity to pull out a weapon and silence them all.

That is, if she even had a weapon to do it with. She put away her elven dagger before falling to Shelob, but her prime ALO sword was completely missing. Hopefully it was with the orcs, and as soon as she found her way out of the cage she would be able to locate it, and an exit to find her friends again.

Leafa shook her head and gained full consciousness of the small cell. She looked to the thin figure lying in the corner, and quickly scooted over to the exact opposite end of the cage. She kept her eyes on the poor soul with all her might, but made no sudden movements to alarm the mysterious being. She also remembered that after this figure tried escaping, the orcs said they frisked him clean of any open items. Leafa had no idea what they had stolen form her already, but if she made it out without being robbed, she would try her hardest to stay silent until the opportune moment.

Time passed for a brief moment while the orcs all took a peak at the stuff on the table. It all looked evil and black, and several items looked lie quite elaborate weaponry. They started mini fights for some of the material, but when things got too out of hand the small commander orc used his brute of a simple sidekick to calm them all down.

"It's all going to the eye if you don't shut up!" He'd threaten them with comments like that, and it would only do a little bit to keep them quiet. They continued to argue over little lost trinkets until the main man walked over and laughed through the bars.

"Ooohhh, the Master won't like it if you can't fork over his ring. He told us to send you into old Shelob if you failed to give it up…." He then looked down at Leafa and grinned, but kept his comment directed at the mysterious figure. "Of course if she's been killed we might just have to send you to the Master's Lair. He'd probably have a right good time just dealing with you himself."

"!" Leafa's eyes looked alert and focused on the last thing he said. Last time she saw it, the ugly giant spider known as Shelob was ready to make Leafa her next lunch, but now she was dead!? Was it orcs, or could it be something else…? Were her friends here to save her!?

Sadly however, she quickly dismissed the idea after realizing the orcs probably would have stayed to fight them, or they would have killed them right there and kept her from going into captivity in the first place.

Then the orc got a look of madness in his eyes, and started keeping his focus fixated on Leafa. He gave her another grin and then snapped to his men. "'Old on a minute…I don't remember friskin the elf bitch yet. She's probably got one of those rings too…or at least a nice set of armor or something else to sell."

Leafa sat back and watched as they grabbed keys to the gate, but then the figure in the corner spoke loud and clear.

"She's not afraid of you…and neither am I."

The orcs stopped for a moment, and Leafa did a double take as the figure never moved his head or revealed his face.

Meanwhile the head orc stepped right up and pressed his face through the bars. "I'm sorry…my Lord…what was that?"

Sarcasm aside, the man spoke again. "Just quiet while you're ahead. I'm sure there's more of them coming through the mountain pass. I'd plan to get them instead of wasting time with us."

"AGH…!" The orc mimicked himself getting ready to slam a fist into the bars, but stopped as he collected himself before it happened. "Come on boys, we'll take the first batch of loot on down to the main floor…"

They all obliged and carried what they could fit in their NPC inventory. As the door shut, even the guards followed to carry items down stairs, which left Leafa all alone with a face of bewilderment inside the cage with the stranger.

The boy spoke again and sighed. "Sorry if I scared ya…d-don't worry about those guys, they're programmed to pick on new players." He thought she had to be a new player if she came into Mordor alone, and just as he sat up he let out a laugh.

"Honestly I wouldn't blame you if you just stayed silent for the…" The boy was fully up and turned around to find a blonde elf sitting up on the front of her knees in the corner as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Leafa's lips started trembling as the one person she wanted to see more than any other looked back with eyes widened like stars. She tried speaking in complete sentences, but her words could barely escape her.

"Ka…K-Kazuto…i-is that _you_ …?"

Kirito sat up in his own bout of confusion before getting a full look at Leafa's avatar. He too stood back for a moment and tried to collect the scene as reality before making any regrets.

"Sugu… _Suguha_ …?"

Leafa let out more virtual tears and let a great big grin take her face as she finally found strength to lean forward. "Kazuto! _KAZUTO!"_

The female elf lunged forward in a fit of relief as she looped her tied hands around the back of his neck. She hugged her real life cousin with all the strength permitted by her veins as Kirito returned the favor ten fold.

Kirito on the other hand had no idea how to properly react. Leafa was the first person he recognized ever since he gained his mind and memory back. He was overly ecstatic to find his friends did actually enter the game and try to save him, which left him a little misty eyed as well.

"Sugu…I-I heard you guys came in to find me, but I…I never really…" Kirito tried to remain calm and collected, but it was a little too much to handle at the moment.

Meanwhile Leafa had let everything fall apart the moment she held him in her arms. The warmth of his virtual body was all she needed in such a cold and hostile environment, and now after she betrayed her friends just moment before, she finally found closure with her mind.

"Kazuto…Kazuto…I missed you sooo much…we all missed you soo much…"

Kirito laughed and tried giving her a pat on the back. "T-That's great Sugu. I missed you too…"

Leafa wasn't finished, and now she tried burying her face into the crook of his neck. "K-Kazuto…I'm soo s-sorry…I never should have let you go into this game alone…I…we…we let you down…"

"Uhh?" Kirito held his head back with shock and awe as Leafa let out more tears. He had no reason to blame anyone other than himself, but for someone so close to him to try and take the blame for herself? It was the worst thing he could stand to hear.

"Sugu…you did nothing wrong…I went in because…well, because I was kind of being an idiot. I never should have gone in."

Leafa choked up on her tears, and realized what he was trying to say before she looked up and delivered a warm smile.

"You're right…you _were_ being an idiot."

Kirito smiled back now that she had stopped crying. He leaned in and gave her one last tight hug before they both released and began sharing tales.

* * *

 _~An hour or so later_

"Wait, so you're saying Sinon killed a dragon? With one shot? Then Silica and Lisebth led armies?" Kirito had no idea what all to believe and what all to discard as Leafa began sharing stories from her and her friends' travels. He was so excited to not only her accounts of the beautiful landscape of all of Middle-Earth, but the idea of his friends breaking their comfort boundaries mad him smile.

"Yea! And Agil and Chrysheight helped too. Klein was with one of the groups…I haven't really heard from him…? A-anyway you should have been there. Me and Recon took out this big tower in Isengard and Recon had these massive tree armies following him in! It was totally ridiculous!"

"Wow…" Kirito grinned and rested his head back on a bar as he took all the stories in. This left Leafa to give him another soft smile and tap him on the leg with the tip of her foot.

"And Asuna…she really misses you."

"Asuna…Asuna." Kirito lowered his shoulders and slightly dreamt off into a moment when he and Asuna were all alone the day before his departure. His skin tingled for a brief second in the cold and damp cell, but the warmth in his heart powered by the sound of that name kept him miles away from Mordor.

"…I want to see her." Kirito finally spoke up. "I wan to see her again…and Yui, and all the others." He then sat up and looked around the room. "We gotta get out of her, Sugu. They have to be ready to attack Mordor, and we need to be there to help them do it."

"Um, y-yea I agree with you…" Leafa awkwardly admitted. "But it's going to be kind of hard without any tools or anything."

"Right…" Kirito began to ponder a few second before he gave her a quick nod. "Well, I don't suppose you have any spells from ALO that unlock jail cells?"

"Not exactly…but it doesn't matter." She looked down to the floor with solemn eyes. "I need my Ring of Power to unlock spells, but now if I put it on I'll get brainwashed by that creepy Klint kid."

"Really? Because of he Ring?" Kirito asked. "Hmm…well I mean I unlocked a few mini spells on my trip out with Klint during the demo, and I don't think I needed the ring."

"WHAT!?" Leafa sat up and got real close to his face. "Shut up! You're lying right now just to piss me off!"

"Agh no!" Kirito tried defending himself. "W-well I, I don't think I am anyway…" He then snapped his fingers and created a ball of lgith on the tip of his index. "This was just a little light spell I sued to get through forest paths at night. It's just a basic ALO spell, but I'm sure you could whip up something much better."

"I…I…" Leafa didn't know whether to act out in anger or embarrassment, because deep down she had no idea if her spells would even work without the power of Vilya. She then pondered a few seconds to try and think of the perfect way out, until the greatest opportunity passed through the doorway, in the form of two, ugly dull orcs ripe for manipulation.

"Actually…" She said with a slight pause of confidence. "Let me try _one_ little trick…"

* * *

 **So Leafa was the first to find Kirito...awe, sibling/cousin/romantic moment for the win!**

 **Now, well see what happens from here, as the great host of the North storms the Black Gate and enters into Mordor.**


	44. 44: Storming the Black Gate

**Author's Note: Okay! We're getting into Mordor Today! Let's see how the great Host of the West handles the first strike!**

 **Also, O do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Forty Four

Storming the Black Gate

 _"A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day."_

— Aragorn, _the Return of the King_

* * *

The time had come for the northern host of Men, Elves, and Dwarves to unite on the Battle Plains and storm the entrance into Mordor. The World of Middle-Earth Online had held Kirito at ransom, and made threats on ALfheim for far too long, and the shadowy figure leading it all needed to be dispatched and defeated.

Asuna Yuuki, interim Queen and General of Gondor's armies leads her forces up around the final bend of the dark mountains of Mordor, and it is here at the outskirts of the dried fields beyond the Land of Shadow that they prepared their assault.

However, before they could be granted their own entrance into the lands of evil, their quest brought them right to the edge of a towering black wall of dread—The Black Gate of Mordor.

The Black Gate was set in an impregnable black stone and iron wall that stretched from the Mountains of Ash in the north to the Ephel Duath in the west. The wall has been estimated to be 60 feet high and 250 feet long, with each half of the great gate being 90 feet wide, and set on large stone wheels. Behind the gate, there were said to be gigantic circular stone ramparts, and when the gate needed to be opened, two pairs of Mountain-trolls who were tethered to gigantic beams pushed their way around their rampart's track, gradually levering open the gate and allowing for the incoming or outgoing of Mordor's armies.

Inset within the wall were myriads of archers, spearmen, bowmen, and hundreds of thousands of Orc troops ready to defend Mordor. The Gates themselves may have been made of the same indomitable stone that constitutes Orthanc, which was so hard that even the Ents of Fanghorn could not dent it.

Now, this host, which even denied the use of Ents for the sake of keeping them out of fire, was responsible for breaking what could not be broken, and eventually storming the poisonous kingdom and eliminating its armies.

Asuna stood at the front of her army, gazing at the blank but violent looking Black Gate. There seemed to be a wholesome army of its own scurrying about the ramparts atop the main battlements, and beyond the actual gate itself was only a horror she could imagine.

She stood with a hand on her queen's sword, _Andúril_. She wished to save _Lambent Light_ for the moment she pierced it through Klint Rojer's chest, but for now she knew exactly the Sword of Gondor should be the one to lead its people to victory.

With her were her friends, Lisbeth, Sinon, Agil, and Chrysheight the Blue. They all stood in wait as the gates before them made no sudden draw or move, and in their wait the command host decided a strategy to take the lands.

"So, this is it." Lisbeth said, with a solemn expression glued to her face. "We're supposed to break through that whole thing, then take our army right to Klint."

"I guess that's the plan. "Agil held his _Orchrist_ sword on his right shoulder as he looked forward as well. He tried scanning the outside of the wall, but to no surprise there seemed to be no weakness to highlight.

Sinon then looked over to her friends. "So, do we use siege equipment, or send arrows over their heads to make them attack first?"

Chrysheight jumped on the moment right there. "Neither…we'll make a call for negotiations."

"What?!" Lisbeth said with a flabbergast expression. "No offense, but that wacko Klint isn't going to be in any healthy state to give us terms of agreement."

"That's true, but he won't be the one to come out." Chrysheight pointed over the wall, and just barely in the far east there appeared to be a tall, slender formation, with a glowing orange orb shining at its top under the cloudy skies.

"That's where he is. He'll have some commanders guarding his gates. If we're lucky we'll call for terms, and see the Nazgûl coming out to greet us. Well kill them there, and then we won't have to worry about them when the real battle begins."

"Geeze, sounds like like a long shot…and a stupid one at that." Lisbeth grabbed her SAO mace and turned to her silent commander. "Okay Asuna, time ta speak up…what's the plan."

Asuna never spoke ever since they left the siege of Minas Morgul. She kept all thoughts to herself, and occasionally walked off by herself to summon Yui for a private, comfortable conference. As a result no one really knew what she was thinking heading into this battle, which is why they were all startled once she made her first move.

Asuna rode forward on her white stallion and headed right for the Black Gate at a slow but prominent gallop. Her friends all panicked and quickly followed after her, and even a banner man of Gondor came with the group to signify their presence.

Asuna halted her horse right before the gate, and stopped to let the others land there as well. She then looked up towards the spiky ramparts and shouted her demands.

"KLINT ROJER…WE'VE COME TO MAKE TERMS."

Silence took the air, and a warm breeze rolled a crossed the faces of all who attended the quiet congregation. No response came from over the gate, but just then a loud creaking noise summoned itself from beyond the towers, and right in an instant the center fissure of the door sprang open, while the two massive doors on either side parted for the arrival of a new figure.

The horses beneath their riders were instantly spooked as the doors came rolling open, and right on the other side, where the mist rolled out to their feet, an emissary of the Dark Lord joined the command of the West.

He was a tall, monstrous man, wicked and evil in shape. The Rider was mounted upon a tattered black horse with a garment of robes in all black, and black was his lofty helm; with the addition of a steel face guard that concealed his eyes, and the rest of his upper face. The only open port out of his helm was centered on the man's mouth, with only his horribly disfigured and diseased lips and teeth visible. The rings around his mouth were also distinct in the fact that they bore the words "Lammen Gorthaur", which appeared as "Abhorred Dead" in the local tongue, written in Cirth runes.

He scanned the noble commanders with pride and arrogance beneath his visor, and as his horse settled its feet and dust, the voice of the envoy took the air.

"My Master, Sauron the Great, bids thee welcome."

He let out a crooked smile and showed off a nasty, disfigured collection of teeth, rotten and destroyed from the wicked words of Sauron.

The commanders of the West cringed with discomfort and fear, and all forgot to reply as the evil man spoke once more. "Though, from the dull faces of my guest, I suppose the name _Klint Rojer_ would appear more familiar…"

He gave off a long pause, and then shook his head with dissatisfaction. "Is there any in this rout with authority to treat with me? Or indeed with wit to understand me?" His words were almost robotically evil, with some matching direct quotations from the books of Tolkien.

Asuna Yuuki however, rolled her eyes the moment she heard the first sound of his voice. She clearly recognized the evil man behind the mask, and sighed as she spoke her mind. "Nobuyuki Sugō…I wondered where you went."

The former king of ALfheim, and former chief executive of _RECT inc._ Sugō Nobuyuki did not appear like he did a month back when he found Asuna below the caves of the Misty Mountains. That day, he appeared just like his valiant and handsome avatar Oberon from ALO.

Now on the other hand, his cloths were all black, and his golden blond hair was hidden away behind his evil Morgul Mask. Asuna could also tell the speech was not direct from himself, so she made this remark after he noticed her discovery. "You've been taken over by Klint too…but it looks like that creep nearly perfected what he was trying to do to Kirito on you."

Oberon snickered through his evil mouth and rode his horse slightly forward. "Ah, such foolishness…I shall not take insult from a fallen queen who could not keep a city by herself…" He then looked down to _Andúril_ on her waist band.

"In fact, I cannot stand to call you a queen at all…It need more to make a ruler than a piece of Elvish steel, or a rabble such as _this._ " He gestured to the assembled army that stood behind Asuna and her friends, and then turned back towards them to give another set of demands.

However before he could speak, the feisty Lisbeth stoke first. "Okay, cut this crap out. We came to make our demands for you. Tell us where Kirito is, and show us to where that little wimp Klint is hiding!"

"Ah-haha!" The evil Oberon laughed as he waved a hand. "What a whiny voice from the so called 'Iron Hammer'…I pity the whole host for agreeing to bring dwarves. Such pathetic creatures."

"Grrr…" Lisbeth herself was not a dwarf, but she took enough offense from the comment to force Asuna to hold an arm out and stop her from making a regret she'd never forgive.

Oberon, the Mouth of Sauron, then carried on. "You all wish to see the fallen Witch-King of Angmar, the former Lord of the Nazgûl…Kazuto Kiriguya…" He showed off a wicked grin knowing they hated it when Kirito was referred to by those titles, and then waved his hand about in arrogance.

"Indeed, I have my tribute, but it will not be easy for your weak hearts to take witness…I have a token I was bidden to show to thee…to _thee_ in especial, my Queen…if thou shouldst dare to come."

Asuna narrowed her vision with all the rage caged up inside her veins. She was ready to take the head right off his shoulders, but then opened her eyes as soon as the evil diplomat revealed his token of interest.

It was the broken handle of the _Dark Repulser_. Its upper handle appeared to be completely missing, and all that remained was this miniature hilt to the former legendary blade of SAO.

Asuna's skin began to tremble as she never expected to see that sword, much like it did when Kirito the Witch-King revealed his _Elucidator_ during their first fight. However this provided an interesting development because this was in fact the first time the _Dark Repulser_ was revealed outside the confrontation of Kirito and Klint.

And even more important…the Mouth of Sauron made hints to the fallen Witch-King of Angmar.

Asuna had no clue how to react as the former Oberon tossed the handle to her hands, and watched as she caught it with great hesitation. She looked like she never wanted to see or touch it, and had no idea what to do now that she had the broken weapon of her current lover.

Meanwhile the Mouth of Sauron carried on. "Now, my Master wishes to grant you a pardon, and asks that you make your leave from his sights and exit this new gaming universe with no conflict."

"OH HELL NO!" Lisbeth was now erupting in anger now that Asuna looked to be nearly mentally broken. She stepped forward and got right close to the evil Lord. "We came with our own terms, but now you monsters are keeping too many secrets. There' no way we can trust any of you at this rate!"

"Agreed." Chrysheight confirmed. "We want proof that what you're about to say will be granted by your…master."

"HAH!" He laughed with great amusement. "So it's surety you crave! Sauron gives none. If you sue for his clemency then you must do his bidding."

He then paced back and forth from atop his horse, and continued to carry out the time of the allies. "Lord Klint will grant you a pardon from MEO, so long as you captains follow Mordor's conditions. Your rabble of Gondor and its deluded allies will disband and return to the command of the Dark Lord. You will withdraw yourselves from the Seed System, and be granted full immunity from domination.

"The hell?" Sinon had an outburst to join in. "You just want us to leave gaming just so you can roam free through the Seed!?"

The Mouth of Sauron smiled, and gave her a sarcastic nod. "All who refuse to leave will not be granted pardon from his wrath. They instead shall help to rebuild Middle-Earth from the reek and destruction you all threw upon it. They will also follow obediently as Klint Rojer assumes full control of the Kingdom of ALfheim, and there his lieutenant shall dwell, not Sigurd or any of his other wasteful employees, but one more worthy of trust...will rule once again."

"…" Asuna finally understood. "You're a monster, Sugō…you're hoping Klint will give you back ALfheim, then you can rule as Oberon once again."

She rode forward and kept a firm grip on the broken but still sharp handle of the _Dark Repulser_ , but Oberon backed away with fear as Asuna's gaze frightened him. "You will do no harm to me! I am a herald and an ambassador, and must not be attacked."

Asuna's horse now stood right beside Lisbeth's, which put her standing right in the face of Oberon as well. The fearful ambassador tried to remain powerful, but Asuna's hold over the _Dark Repulser_ left him weary.

He collected his composure and continued sitting tall as he addressed his enemy. "Exactly. I shall not take your weak blade to heart…I am only a means to serve the Dark Lord. I will provide him with your answers once you've agreed to his terms."

"Agreed to his terms…provide our answer." Asuna's lip continued to flicker and twitch with rage, and as the hand with the broken sword shook more and more, the former King Oberon temptingly readied himself for a confrontation.

However, Asuna let out a large sigh, and handed the broken sword over to Lisbeth. She also piled on a second, packaged item to fit as new material. "Fix this please…for Kirito."

Lisbeth made no sound as she received the recipe, but gave Asuna a soft nod as she agreed to do her best on mending the broken sword back to health.

Meanwhile Oberon laughed with pure amusement and settled himself back down to earth.

Then, before he grew too comfortable. Asuna looked right at his evil face and drew Andúril from her side. She stuck it right through the heart of Oberon, who let out a shrill but painful shriek of pain as the long blade began taking his life.

Asuna clutched up on the hold of her sword and then swung it towards the right, which pulled the Mouth of Sauron from his horse and slung him right into the dirt. She then watched the motion leave his mouth, and put away her sword.

"Send that to Klint…"

Asuna's friends and allies were all left in pure shock and awe, and Lisbeth nearly dropped the _Dark Repulser_ from her hands as Asuna's gesture frightened her so much.

Then the queen swung her horse around and held her sword high.

"Everyone! I…I've taken you this far. I've needed all of you every step of the way. From all the soldiers of Gondor, Rohan, the elves and the dwarves…even the friends that I love so dear…" She turned to give the four escorts a smile, who then all provided one back.

Then, she turned back to her army with determination and kept her sword high in the air. "Now, I only need one last thing…help me find Kirito."

"AYE!" The Gondor men shouted first, then the rowdy dwarves of Erebor and the Blue Mountains. The Rohirrim were usually more partial to their horse lord Silica, but they joined in soon after Asuna finished her chant. Even the elves, who usually remained silent for battles such as this, grasped their swords high and shouted just as loud as the others. The whole host of the West let out a valiant war cry as the gates into Mordor swung open even more, which quickly outpoured the largest army they had ever seen.

Finally, Asuna turned from her army and looked back towards the opening gate. With the hordes of hell quickly making their approach, she gave her best friends one final thought of encouragement.

"For Kirito."

* * *

Now, as Asuna and her armies slam against the forces of the Black Gate, Kirito and Leafa run for their lives as they create their attempt to flee from the Cirith Ungol, and join their friends on the other side of the mountain. They themselves have no idea the armies of the West have begun their attack, but their concerns are slightly more self-relevant as they try to avoid all the guards they possibly can.

"Wow…I can't believe your Hypnosis spell worked, Sugu!" Kirito kept his voice down to a whimper as he was being led by Leafa under a clear shrowd of invisibility.

Leafa on the other hand was very proud of the fact she was able to unleash magic without her ring, and gave him a wink in response. "Well, ya know, I try my best to make everyone happy." She had also gathered keys from her mentally imprisoned orcs, which undid the shackles securing both their wrists together, and now they hid in the shadows as Leafa's magic guided them to safety.

They twisted down a spiral staircase that followed the inside walls of the tower, and all throughout the keep there appeared to be mini orc skirmishes and fights that kept the minions from doing their jobs. As they grew closer to the bottom of the steps, they also heard news from the rest of Mordor traveling through the tower.

"Prep your arms, boys! The Black Gate's just been stormed, and we're getting called to kill some men!"

Hundreds of orcs stopped their inbred fighting and rallied with a cry in return, and Leafa and Kirito held their breaths in the though of who it was that was storming the gates.

"Kirito! Asuna and the others are moving in!" She lit up with excitement, and turned to see Kirito was smiling as well.

"No kidding! I hope we can make it in…" He stopped that sentence as his eyes traveled above Leafa's head, and right below the fully green health bar, the blue manna bar was quickly shrinking under her name.

"Leafa…you're magic is running out fast."

"Huh…OH NO!" The blonde elf mage looked above her left eye to find that to be true. She quickly panicked and grabbed Kirito by the wrist, and took him under the next set of dark stairs to hide themselves under shadow in case the spell wore off too quickly.

"Dang it!" Leafa shouted. "I didn't want to say anything…but I think this tower is zapping my magic. I can only use a little manna at a time."

Kirito poked his head out the side of the stairs to look for a way out. "Yea…the exit is just down the steps and passed the bulk of orcs in the courtyard. We're so close…"

"Agh! This is soo frustrating!" Leafa wanted to pull her hair out, but then realized with a blanket concealment spell like the one she was currently using, it was very challenging to keep a spell like that up for two people.

"Kirito…" She paused with a soft voice. "I have a new plan…but you're not going to like it."

"Then don't do it." He replied. "Cause knowing you, I already have a good idea what it might be."

"Too late…" Leafa ignored her older cousin and took his head right in her hands. After giving him a quick kiss on the forehead, she flashed up a new smaller spell, one that would be able to last longer for Kirito alone based on his own manna pool. This time however she seemed to mimic a spell Kirito used in ALO, back when he turned into a giant demon to attack Salamanders below the grounds of ALfheim.

Instead, this time he turned into a lean but very muscular orc, who looked to be a commander of sorts. He had no weapons, but his armor looked tough enough to get him through any skirmish with other orcs. Leafa trimmed the concealment spell to cover just herself, but noticed the manna was still running out.

"Go to the Black Gate." Leafa commanded. "Find the others, and let them know you're alright."

Kirito held up his hands, and spoke with his regular voice. "Sugu I'm not leaving you! They want to see you just as much as they want to see me!"

Leafa gave her cousin an adorable smile, and shook her head. "Wow…you really have no idea how much they care about you." She took both of her hands and shoved Kirito out into the open, and right then her own spell wore off, which caused her to leave the safety of the steps and run the opposite way.

"I'll meet you in the end! Get going!"

"SUGUHA!?" Kirito charged after her, but then found two orc captains come around the corner, and noticed they stuffed a great big box of inventory in his hands.

"Take this filth with the rest of the group to the Great Eye, and get a move on it!"

"Yea!" The other yelled out. "And don't let that battle distract you, maggot!" They both held swords on their wastes and nudged their shoulders into his, and then left the poor swordsman alone.

"Ugh…I just can't wait to get out of this game." Kirito's eyes began to twitch from the anger of carrying out the orc's commands, and Leafa's at the same time. To be honest he had no idea which bothered him more, which forced him to relieve a sigh from his lungs and continue on.

* * *

 **Okay so I thought it'd be funny to have Oberon/Suguo as the ugly Mouth of Sauron. He was sort of the Gollum early on, then we lost hi, and no this is even funnier! Also I tried to make some of his dialogue right out of Tolkien's books, so some of the words may look weird...**

 ** _Aaaand!_ Like I said, Leafa getting captured served an actual purpose! She managed to get Kirito out of captivity as well. Hmm, I wonder why she abandoned him to go on his own...?**

 **New chapter tomorrow!**


	45. 45: In the Land of Mordor

**Author's Note: GUYS! I let ya down again! I went TWO WHOLE WEEK DAYS without releasing a chapter! I sincerely apologize, and hope no one is too angry...**

 **However judging by how you guys usually handle it when I'm late, I take it you all are pretty chill. Thanks for being so patient and reasonable! It's taking me a little longer to review and edit these final chapters, because I want to be sure the finale is perfect! Anyway I hope you enjoy this special Saturday release, brought to you by me watching the opening weekend of College Football all morning!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Forty Five

In the Land of Mordor

 _"Courage is found in unlikely places"_

—Gildor, _The Lord of the Rings_

* * *

Kirito trekked through inner foothills of the Ephel Dúath as he escaped the Tower of Cirith Ungol still disguised as an orc brute. He was falsely tasked with carrying several pieces of cargo, which were standard items collected by slaves and captives that were always ordered to be delivered to the Black fortress immediately. A river of near-mindless orcs followed the orders to avoid the Dark Lord's wrath, and in this particular case most joined in to avoid the bloody battle occurring just beyond the northern corner of the Land.

However, Kirito actually wanted to partake in this battle at the Black Gate. He knew Asuna and all his other friends would be there fighting to find him, so his best case scenario would be meeting them half way and avoiding having them hike through Mordor just for their reunion.

Despite that thought, Kirito knew his discovery was not the only mission objective that needed to be completed. Klint Rojer needed to be defeated, and since he was the most skilled player in his group of friends, the Black Swordsman placed the bulk of that weight on his own shoulders, and planned to slay the man himself. At the very least, Kirito would try to earn some more closure, and eventually find out where his body was in the Real World, that is if he could even score a single word of council with the Dark Lord.

He had no idea where his sword, _Dark Repulser_ , ended up after his fight with Klint in Minas Morgul, and there were little options for weapons outside of old and mangled orc swords and spears that were quickly falling apart. Kirito could sort of appreciate any attempt Klint had of trying to keep his orc army authentic towards the text of films, but the idea to still give his "master army" poor fighting gear really confused him as a swordsman.

 _"_ _This guy's insane…"_ he quietly muttered to himself as the small troupe of orcs marched a crossed the Fields of Gorgoroth. "He's going against the best fighters from ALO with a bunch of tiny little goblins and equipment that falls apart?"

Kirito was appalled by the armies' lack of composure, but he never vocalized his thoughts as he was still surrounded by the monsters being described as "tiny." Some of the larger Uruks began giving him an angry expression every time he looked their way. Although Kirito mimicked one of the brutish creatures with the spell from Leafa, he had to be careful when giving them eye contact.

"What the hell are you on about!?" One gave him a yell as Kirito started walking out of line. "Keep your eyes forward, scum!"

Kirito followed the order, much to his own displeasure, and continued to follw the line of NPC orcs towards the central region of Mordor. These fields were the surrounding plateau that sat at the foot of the greatest feature in all the lands of shadow.

The great volcanic peak came a crossed Kirito's view on the left side of the road, and continued to capture his attention as the line of troops came up on its foothills on their way north. It was hear Kirito could now hear the faint echos and war cries coming from the northwest, near the entrance of Mordor.

* * *

While the black swordsman was making his deviant escape a crossed the fields of ash and rock, Leafa the Galadhrim elf was scurrying back into the lower levels of Cirith Ungol, where she was trying her hardest to locate her missing sword before the cargo orcs took it off to the Black Tower.

"Crap!" She cried out after defeating yet another pair of mindless orc guards. "I hope they haven't taken it already…that's my favorite sword."

Not only was it Leafa's primary weapon in MEO, but the silver and gold Sylph sword was unique in that, unlike Kirito, Asuna, Klein, Lisbeth, Agil, and Silica, her weapon came from ALO, not SAO. Therefore, if she ever wished to see this sword again in the Land of Fairies, she needed to find it right here and now.

However, as she began lurking around the lower corners of the tower, Leafa actually came to the entrance, the same gate that Kirito escaped out of with his great host. While she was walking around along the sides and shadows of the room, she also managed to notice a few extra corridors that led off towards the back end of the tower, and into a narrow gate that opened up a causeway into the mountains in the west.

She looked towards these paths with curious caution, but just as she went to turn, she began hearing a few familiar voices in the air.

"Recon we have to run! NOW!"

Leafa turned the corner to find the gate into the mountains was actually fully open, and just on the bridge heading in was the tiny Rhoirric knight Silica, and behind her was the green Halfling Recon running from a small but fearsome troop of orcs.

"Silica!? Recon!?" Leafa's eyes opened brightly as she tried collecting the scene, but the two friends would not slow down.

"NO TIME!" Recon yelled over Silica's shoulder to alert Leafa, who now saw the orcs were a lot larger than one originally would have seen.

She began wondering why the lower levels looked to be missing a few extra guards, and it turns out most of them were out finding the two rogue enemies in Shelob's Lair. As Silica ran past Leafa, Recon made it right near the gate as well, and then looked at both girls to make the next plan.

"Okay, we might actually be able to take them all on now!" He looked towards the fifteen or so orcs running their way, but before he pulled out his daggers again, Leafa closed her eyes and politely nudged him out of the way.

"Absolutely…I think we'll be just fine…Ek verpa einn brandr muspilli, kalla bresta bani, steypa lundr drótt!"

Leafa's hands began to glow with orange and scarlet light as she held them out in front of her body. A golden ring flashed around her waist, and then a great ball of fire shot out of her palms and smashed into the line of orcs ready to charge her and her friends. Not only was it a standard fire spell of ALO, but the dry air and dark magic surrounding Mordor helped power the spell up in to quite the offensive power house.

Leafa watched as the orcs screamed for their life, and while some of them jumped off the edge to avoid the attack, the others ate the flames head on and fell to their miraculous power. She then lowered her arms, and let the magic air dissipate before turning to her friends with a smile.

"Ah…well I am sure glad to see you guys! I…" Leafa went to explain her evening, and in great lengths she actually wished to apologize for running off, but her two friends had beat her to it by hugging her in a tight embrace.

""You had us all scared, Leafa!" Silica was still happy to see her, but like she admitted the whole host, especially the close group of friends, all missed her dreadfully.

Recon nodded, and ended his hug as he backed way. "Yea…and don't bother apologizing. We all know you would never leave us on your own."

"Yea…" Silica agreed. "How is your ring anyway…did they take it from you in the tower?"

"Thanks guys…" Leafa's heart quickly filled with warmth and comfort as she reached into her pocket to reveal the golden blue Vilya. "Actually I have it right here. I'm gonna hold onto it until this game actually comes to a…"

She went to say more, but then heard a loud horn, and a crack of sound coming from raging orcs on the northern side of the tower.

"W-what is tha…?" She and the others looked totally lost as they tried summing up the large sound in their heads. Leafa could tell just by the voices that this was a large orc host, and could have possibly been some of the orcs who left with Kirito.

"Please don't tell me they found him out…!" Leafa powered on two glowing green ALO wings and shot into the open air just outside the mini tunnel gate. She looped around the rock, and looked over to see a great host of orcs flooding form the northeast and all around the tower, which left her purely in awe.

"It's a whole army…for us!?"

"WHAT!?" Silica and Recon both repeated each other's words as the latter spoke first. "Why the hell would they send a whole army just for three people!?"

"No Kidding!" Silica began trying to gain her own view from atop a purch of small rocks just as Leafa came in to land. "We can't fight that many people by ourselves! We have to get back north to help Asuna and the others there!"

"But why else would they be here…" Leafa confusingly asked herself. "I wonder if they discovered Ki…"

"SIR! WE FOUND SOME DEAD ONES OVER HERE!" The three allies all heard a loud voice take the inner chamber of the tower, and looked over to the mass of bodies just inside the foyer to dictate this was the area the man was talking about.

They prepped themselves for a mini confrontation, until they saw a combination of very odd soldiers. Out form the corner came two different factions of men, one group dress in red desert robes with accents of black, while the other mimicked Rangers of the North that they remembered from Rivendell.

Then, before anyone got too confused, the usual commander of the rangers strolled out to see what the commotion was.

"Man, this tower will be a sick lookout point for the battle. I bet…no way! Leafa? Silica! Recon! You guys are here!?"

Klein strolled out with the company of several rangers and Haradrim soldiers by his side. He was also followed by the commander of the Harad forces who quickly sheethed his steel sword and began scratching his beard. "Klein, you know these individuals?"

The ALO Salamander laughed and walked forward. "Of course! They're some of the coolest guys ever!"

However, as they all looked forward, Klien noticed the three friends all had slightly angry faces.

As a result, the red haired boy turned and laughed. "Ahehe…and I guess they still think I'm dead…?"

"Klein…" Silica spoke first. "We heard what happened in the mountains…"

"Yea, Lisbeth told us everything…" They all continued to give him a judgemental face, until Leafa and Silica broke the moment with huge smiles and giggles.

"It was soooo romatic!"

"WHAT!?" Klein nearly fell over, as did Recon as the entire scene shifted one hundred and eighty degrees. The Harad man still looked confused by all the new faces, but Leafa and Silica began hiding their smiles with hands.

"She kept talking about how you shoved her out of the way to save her, then she tried to log out but her nurse wouldn't let her." Leafa explained. "I guess she was really broken after that."

"Yea!" Silica added on. "And then she channeled it into her fight against the bad guys up north. Who knew she had a thing for you?"

"Yea…" Klein began to rub the back of his head as his cheeks flushed with red. "Something tells me she won't be happy to see me once she knows my character survived…anyway I came down here and got a new army. We're storming Mordor from the south, so the whole host should be good to go!"

They three went to ask more questions on his perilous escape from the Balrog, but before things got too carried away, Leafa snapped her fingers.

"OH I ALMOST FORGOT! GUYS…you'll never guess what I found out after I got captured."

The entire group turned to give Leafa their full attention, and just as they readied for the news, she gave them all a rather revealing smile.

"Kirito's alright…and he's headed to fight Klint."

* * *

 _"_ _AGHH!"_

Now we come a crossed Asuna Yuuki slicing _Andúril_ through the neck of several orcs as they charge her in the middle of Udûn, the northern plains of Mordor. She continued to power on a glowing swordskill to wipe out massive swaths of orc soldiers, but even with her miraculous power and leadership abilities she alone could only do so little.

However, her friends Lisbeth and Agil had the perfect men for the job when trying to bring down the Black Gate's original defenses, or more accurately the better _dwarves._ They shot out powerful siege blasts to take out the main towers, and several ballistae spears and projectiles to finish off the orcs standing atop the high gate walls.

Meanwhile, the swift and skilled elves of Lothlórien and Mirkwood were slicing through everything in their paths, and the moment larger Mordor bodies came in to clear them out, Sinon and her perfect archery troupe would send in powerful arrow shots to finish them off and clear a greater path for their entire host to progress.

And one could not forget the blue wizard, Chrysheight, with his shining blade _Glamdring_ and brand new wizard's staff leading the central forces with every spell and attack taking out all the enemies he could afford. Being the master mind on the alliance's team, Chrysheight planned a route that would take the bulk of the forces through the northwest section of Mordor and right beside two major structures in the central plains. Once they claimed these fields in the name of the West, Asuna and the others could dictate their own path to both defeat Klint Rojer and destroy the Ring once and for all.

No one knew what would happen if the Ring were to be destroyed, and no one even had a clue what would happen if Klint were to be slain in battle. Would he die like everyone else? And would the destruction of his One Ring be the end of the world entirely? These would hopefully soon be answered as the men of Gondor, the High Elves, and the dwarves of Durin's Folk drove their way through battles and into this pivotal region.

Asuna continues to clear out massive waves of orcs as they run down hills and slopes, out of tiny camps and mines, their weapons fully drawn and their yells cracking the air. She uses _Andúril_ as if it's an extension of her arm, even though she us more comfortable to a lighter sword. She walso waits for Lisbeth to finish an on-the-fly project for her as the broken _Dark Repulser_ still needs to be fixed. Lisbeth has been struggling with both trying to fix the weapon, and keeping herself alive at the same time. Even more so, Lisbeth and her dwarves are still in the back end of the army as they try to round up all their dwarven equipment to move it throughout Mordor. Asuna on the other hand is driving her men at the front of the army, which means she'll have a lot of back tracking to get her broken sword back.

"LIS!?" Asuna hacked through a few orcs before turning around and yelling out to her missing friend. "Lis where are you!?" She then realized how much ground she and her men managed to cover before also realizing the dwarves had heavy cargo to move.

"Crap, she probably back in the back of the fields. If I can just leave…"

"ASUNA! Take the men through the pass of Isenmouth!" Chrysheight yelled after her to keep marching forward, which dictated the exact opposite decision she was willing to make.

"But I…!" She wanted to find Lis at all costs, but she also needed to keep a firm leadership role within her army. She therefore turned her horse around and marched it forward through a great gap at the edge of the plains. While there seemed to be large crags and geysers of ash and poison shooting up particles throughout the entire basin, she and her men seemed to only take minimal damage as a result. Whenever they kept their feet quick and on the move, their lungs would only be able to collect so much of the stuff, so maybe keeping her army marching forward wasn't the worst decision after all.

Asuna and the men of Gondor led the assault through the gaping pass into the lower plateau of Mordor, and while this entire basin looked more like a dried up ancient sea, there was only one feature that stole their gaze in the distance.

It stood alone in an empty plain, the Plateau of Gorgoroth and was connected to a Dark Tower in the east by means of road and rock, rising about 4500 feet with its base about 3000 feet tall. It was easily the most dreadful natural structure Asuna had ever seen, and it was here her eventual journey would have to meet its end, Mount Doom.

Asuna stood in a frozen moment of fear as the jagged lip of the volcano's cone oozed and glowed with orange fire and lava. The ash and flaming stones that shot out of its gut took the skies of Mordor like a cloud of pure death, easily enough to shock the lungs if exposure was too elongated.

She was so distracted by the dreadful view of the volcano that a fleet of orcs running over the nearby hill almost ended her playing career, but the valiant warrior that she was made sure to spin around, dodging the arrows flying her way, and killing her enemies before they reached her men.

The Blue Wizard brought his troops through the pass as well, and together he and Asuna met with a great host of orcs coming out of the central plains. A road that ran out of a distance dark tower and the foot of the volcano led the hordes of Mordor right their way, which proposed the best defense for invading armies of Men and Elves.

"How are we going to keep going!?" Chrysheight stabbed an orc and then looked to Asuna with confusion. "There are too many orcs to stay and fight, and we don't have enough strength to keep plowing ahead!"

Asuna tried thinking for a moment, because as things stood he appeared to be right. Their men were facing a severe handicap as the pass between the Isenmouth only allowed for twenty or so men to pass through. She also noticed the orcs were not only attacking them as they came out the pass, but some were even climbing the hills to reach the main army on the other side.

It was no wonder Mordor armies prefer home field battles, because they knew the land and grew comfortable from everything inside its borders. Asuna and Chrysheight were stuck as the slopes of Mount Doom were in their sights, but for now the forces of evil were simply too much.

That is, until a shot of great strength and power came from behind their army and passed through the high opening of Isenmouth, and crushed the advancing orcs pouring out from the fields in the south.

Several more dwarven catapult projectiles landed on their marks just in time to send a massive blow to the home army, which gave an excellent amount of time for Asuna and her men to regroup in their strife and carry on tearing the Mordor forces down to nothing.

She gave a smile to honor her pink haired friend sitting in the back of the assault, but just then she noticed the closest ruble from the catapult ammo seemed to be glowing with some sort of open package. Asuna bent down for a brief moment before grabbing the glowing object and pressing its examination button.

Then, in a spark of iron works, the box flashed open and revealed a blue and emerald sword from Sword Art Online, fully re-forged from the broken shards delivered by the Mouth of Sauron. The _Dark Repulser_ had been reborn in a new light, all at the perfect time for Asuna to make her final drive.

She also found a note, attached to the package as well, and it read more words of ease

 _"_ _Thank Agil for fixing the catapult to fit my package…try not to let it break this time._

 _~Lis"_

"Well, I hope the sacrifice was worth it…" Asuna pondered to herself on whether or not time was well spent on making the sword, but now she had full reason to keep marching south, and even more specifically make her way towards the southeast in the proper direction of Klint. There the Dark Lord supposedly hid inside his Dark Tower, where he commanded his forces form the highest fell room while all the heroes advanced in his direction.

Asuna found time between collecting the new sword and killing an enemy orc to pull up the region map and look to see how far away the enemy was. She could only see obstacles, and unmarked dots signifying NPCs or unfriendly players. The only labeled cursers on her screen were friends in her party list, or former members like Klint after his betrayal in Gondor.

She tried to measure the distance, but made no legitimate effort after self-calculating the distance to be well over a day's travel. She sighed with anger and tried to think of a better way but even on her horse the ride there would take far too long, time that would eventually eat at her army and lose her the battle she fought so very hard to begin.

She began weighing different options, until a fell screech took the air, followed by the beating wings of a beats of dread out of Minas Morgul, and perched atop its back was one of the three remaining Nazgûl Lords ready to avenge his fallen brothers.

Asuna watched as the monster's screams left fear in the hearts of her men, but she stood tall and stood with resilience as she drew The Flame of the West and readied for an attack. However, as the fell beats came swooping low to grab her in its talons, a shot from over the hill took its neck and caused it to lower towards the ground.

Asuna turned around and saw Sinon sliding down the hill. Her elven men seemed to be passing through the pass, but she decided to take a short cut over the hillside to make it to her friend in need.

Then, as the beast flew back to regroup its attack, Chrysheight stepped forward and slammed his new staff into the ground. The brilliant wand sent a shock wave out f the ground and illuminated the tip with a blue glow, and then after raising it into the air, the Blue Wizard managed to grasp the air floating around the flying monster and altered the gravity to bring it closer to their presence.

"Asuna…" He struggled to grab her attention as he tried reeling in his catch. "Take the fell beats and ride it to Sauron's Tower…it's not a long trip by flight, and you won't need to control the thing for that long…"

"What!?" Asuna tried rejecting the thought then and there. "B-But I need to lead the army!? Plus I've never ridden one of those things!"

"Don't worry about the army…" Sinon kept one eye shut as she readied another shot for the heart of the Ringwraith. "We'll handle this clown and take the group to Mount Doom. You need to stop Klint now before he comes out and uses that Ring on us…"

"What? But I…" She was trying to make more excuses on the fact that she hated the idea of abandoning her friends, but it looked like they were having none of it.

"He sent Oberon to give you that sword…" Sinon explained, quickly reloading after (rarely) missing her first shot. "I'd say it's probably a trap…but maybe he knows something we don't know."

Asuna did a double take as she looked back to Chrysheight, and then back towards the landing fell beast. The Blue Wizard was losing his strength, and then cried out at the last of his breath.

"We've got the army…you've got Klint…NOW GO!"

Sinon shot the saddle strap under the flying beast's underside, and Chrysheight finished off his spell in order to summon a shiled to protect himself from the sword of the Nazgûl who now fell off its mount.

Asuna on the other hand had no other choice but to follow the plan of her friends. Lisbeth and Agil delivered her package, and Sinon and Chrysheight sent her off to finish he boss. She was eternally grateful, and thoughts of warmth and confidence filled her heart the moment she grabbed the exposed reins of the monster and turned it around back towards the east.

Then, in a cloud of smoke, Sinon and Chrysheight prepared for a new battle with the Nazgûl. Hey watched Asuna struggle to fly off, but quickly gain her composure as she sailed away on her new path.

Chrysheight grinned and drew _Glamdring_ from his side. He then looked over to the completely focused Sinon. "So, how long should I keep it distracted?"

"Not long…" Sinon raised an eyebrow, but gave him no satisfaction or smile. "Trust me...I'm not missing this time."

* * *

Now, we finally come a crossed the remainder of the group of orcs who set off from the tower of Cirith Ungol. Several had orders to turn back around after hearing a revolting army from the people of Harad had began invading Mordor from the south, which left the remaining cargo carriers free to roam towards their destination.

It also gave Kirito, the master swordsman he is, extra time to get used to his combat hand once again as he just finished off the final escort orc with a slice of his blade. His spell wore off several minutes ago, but it took even less time to kill every orc in the party before they had time to finish him off and send him back to Cirith Ungol. He figured if he were to die at this point he would either be teleported back to Minas Morgul, sent to the castle of Klint, or simply placed in an empty void and await the game's demise.

In all three cases, he preferred not knowing which on was true. Kirito was determined to make his way for the north east and end this battle here and now with the death of Klint Rojer

And sure enough, his final destination had just taken its halt at the end of the road. When Kirito took his view from the top of a measly hill, the great extension of darkness and terror he viewed took to the sky in a great shape, with a flaming eye sitting at its pinnacle. This was the fortress of the Dark Lord—the _Barad-dûr._

The Barad-dûr was held together by dark magic and was the greatest fortress in Middle-earth of its time. It was originally built in the Second Age and leveled after Sauron's defeat in the War of the Last Alliance. Sauron had Barad-dûr rebuilt during the Third Age as he regained his power, but the tower was forever destroyed immediately following the destruction of the One Ring, as it was constructed and held together using the Ring's dark magic.

Barad-Dûr was built upon the end of a long southern spur of the Ered Lithui in the northern part of the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It was founded upon a mighty iron mountain throne above vast pits and appeared even blacker and darker than the mantling clouds and shades in which it stood. It was immeasurably strong, with its countless gargantuan towers, walls and battlements, and was made of very hard and unbreakable substances. Usually it was described as made of steel, iron or adamant. It had gaping gates, great courts and dungeons with deep and terrible prisons.

Here, the hero stood with confusion and despair in his heart, and all thoughts of seeing his old life left him for a brief moment only in time. Despite his negative visioning however, Kirito took a deep breath, and swallowed all pride before marching forward and taking his stance into the next mission of the game.

"Okay Klint…it's you and me. Time to finish this for my friends, and end this game once and for all."

From there, Kirito the Black Swordsman stepped down the hill, and towards the flaming entrance into the enemy's Tower, eagerly waiting for his final confrontation with the Dark Lord of Mordor.

* * *

 **1\. Kirito is one the move, and he's the man with a plan.**

 **2\. Leafa found Silica and Recon! And she can use magic without her Ring!**

 **3\. AND THEY ALL FOUND KLEIN! I liked the idea of Klein being able to turn the Harad guys good, and then bringing them in as his own army. (Also, the girls seem to like teasing him about Lisbeth...)**

 **4\. Asuna was kickin' some ass in Mordor! Lis fixed her sword, Agil delivered it, Chrysheight helped her make a new plan, and Sinon practically saved her life. Now she awkwardly flies towards the Black Tower to confront Klint...and Kirito?**

 **We'll see how this finale war comes to an end, or if it keeps going on! Kind of expect any new chapter to come within a day or two of each other. It's a holiday weekend so I should find some time to finish this thing!**


	46. 46: Crossing Blades

**Author's Note: Alright, here it is. The supposed clash between our hero and villain. Let's see if Kirito or Sauron claims victory here, and let's see if either of their victories is earned by easy measure...**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or the _Lord of the Rings._**

* * *

Chapter Forty Six

Crossing Blades

 _"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."_

—Haldir, _the Lord of the Rings_

* * *

Kirito stormed through the threshold of the great Barad-dûr as he made his presence widely known to his enemies. Each orc and other fell monster that attacked him through the base of the black fortress was either killed or fixated on running away from such a brutish swordsman. The young man made it quite clear that he was not about to let anything or anyone get in his way during this final confrontation.

And final is what he'd hope to make it. Kazuto Kiriguya had spent too much time locked away in an unfamiliar video game world at the hand of some crazed creator, and he was even more furious with the harm it put on his friends to try and save him. He was mad at himself for putting them all through this horrible dread, but would soon find a way to redirect his spite towards his enemy instead.

The Dark Tower was tall, well over 1,500 meters tall as it scraped against the blackened skies of Mordor. Its crown was enlightened with the fiery, lidless eye of Sauron, and its ornate features shined as a blackened, steel menacing figure, nearly Gothic in design. It had high walls surrounding the lower levels, each separating its structure from the mainland rock. There appeared to be a fiery crag between the tower and the land, and a river of molten rock flowed down from Mount Doom and into this deepening moat of evil, which nearly fortified the monstrosity at all angles.

Kirito was well dressed for his entrance into the citadel of evil. He wore the shadowy armor of the Witch-king still under a cape of black rags, and without his evil helmet or hood he almost looked like a heavily armored version of his old self from Sword Art Online. He located a few well designed swords as he entered into the tower, and made great use of them while hacking through every being in his path. Yet despite his brash and obnoxious arrival, he was never greeted by any chief or lieutenant while he killed off the hordes of Mordor. No commander of evil or dark sorcerer made way to stop his onset, which gave him further cause to continue his climb and eventually find his way through the tower.

He passed through a spiral staircase that looked out through windows into the fiery fields of Mordor, and just beyond the northern smoke of the volcano, he could see great wars being raged at the slopes of the mountains. He had a gut feeling this was the army of his dear Asuna, which he would surely find once this battle came to an end.

Either way, he swallowed all desire to lunge out the window and join them in the fight on the field, because he now had to focus all his attention on the doors at the peak of his climb.

Kirito pressed hard against the blackened steel doors that came to the penthouse of the tower, and as he drew them open, a hall of great fire and shadow took his view, but no figure of malice and despair greeted him from atop the throne at the plinth of the room.

Kirito blinked his eyes for a few seconds before taking his first step though the door. His Morgul Swords were handily clenched between his fists, and he made a quick glance around the room before hearing a voice coming from a chamber off to the right.

"Kazuto! Hah, I followed your progression through Gorgoroth…apologies but I was looking out my balcony enjoying the fight at Mount Doom."

Klint placed his hand on the outer arm rest on his throne and sighed. "Well, I wonder if Asuna and the others have fallen yet. I counted 8,000 or so in their host, a noble number, and they also seem to be joined by a group of rebels from the south, some 2,000 that should have joined you in the sacking of Mians Tirith…"

Kirito made no remark, but he could tell Klint seemed rather angry with that second group. However the Dark Lord continued with his explanation.

"Sadly, I'm afraid they'll be outdone by my second force coming out of Nurn. I had 20,000 or so standing up here to combat Asuna and the rest, and this second addition might bring me closer to 50,000! I was hoping to save them for ALfheim, but I may use recruitment skills to bring some of your allies on my side for that fight instead."

Kirito still stood silent as a mouse while he observed his foe in the silence of the moment. Klint was dressed in simple dark robes, and wore no armor or weaponry of any kind. He probably had some other trick up his sleeve, but for now Kirito would have to work with everything he could plainly see.

"OH I ALMOST FORGOT!" Klint continued. "You're little friends discovered how to free the Ringwraiths. Apparently one of them decided to use a Legendary Weapon in a fight vs the Nazgûl, and it sent them out of the game and successfully logged them out…"

He then looked at Kirito with a displeased expression. "As if I didn't have enough reasons to hate your friends already."

"Why?" Kirito bluntly responded. "Don't blame my friends for exposing your stupid mistakes. I told you back at the green castle, the moment you give them a hint or short cut, your game will come crashing down on itself."

Klitn rolled his eyes. "I have control over those fools, don't act like I don't…if I just took them over or did whatever the hell I wanted in here, then there'd be no fun in it! I like a challenge, and anything to mix my world with the authenticity of J. R.R. Tolkien would be a dream come true…"

He then relocated his favorite grin and powered on a glowing map of ALfheim Online. "Besides, when I take my tools through other games, I won't have admin privileges right away. I figured if I give the heroes a few extra ways to attack me in here, it will be my best way to simulate an actual take over in any other game." He then glossed a figure over the One Ring, which was safely sitting on the right armrest of the throne. "At any moment, I can create more of my lesser rings, and use them to seize the minds of the greatest gamers the world has ever seen. I'll take over every server from my remote location, and bend them all to my Middle-Earth. I will combine the great works of Tolkien, Kayaba, and Nobuyuki into the greatest virtual reality experience the world has ever seen!"

Kirito had had enough, and quickly drew his two long Morgul swords. "YOU'RE THROUGH KLINT! I'M ENDING THIS NOW AND LOGGING BOTH OF US OUT OF THIS GAME PERMANENTLY!"

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!" Klint ignored the One Ring and dashed forward in a bolt of black dread, and drew his mace to combat the will of Kirito. The duel wielding swordsman clashed weapons with the Dark Lord back and forth, creating shock waves and flairs of fire and ash.

Kirito spun around and powered on a swordskill, and quickly spun around to deliver a few slash marks right on Klint's back. He let Klint yell with pain and rage before returning with an even more powerful stab to the chest, but had to drop the offense and switch to defense as Klint's mace came crashing down over his head.

Kirito took the hit easily, but let the air and shock wave send him leaning a few meters back. His boots dug into the ground for a moment, and then as he looked forward the evil Lord of Mordor sprang back into action with his mace high in the air.

"You know what really bugs me about you people. You all looked down on me over the years for being 'nerdy' or dorky', and then you acted like playing video games was something completely cool or normal!"

"What are you talking about!?" Kirito argued back as he defended another powerful blow. "I never knew you before the demo, and of course every game is going to have a nerdy player in it! Heck, I even consider myself one from time to time!"

"Not to any degree that I've been called!" Klint was not convinced with Kirito's argument. "I spent years of my school life being mocked and made an outcast at my schools! I never wanted to do anything except read my books, and everyone ostracized me for it…then I finally got into playing games and doing things everyone else considered fun, but they wouldn't let me join in! EVER!"

Kirito could feel the fire coming off his body, and as a result pivoted his attacks to keep his own torso and limbs safe. The rage from Klint was building up into a super powerful amount of dark magic, and if he wasn't careful, Kirito would end up on the other end of a death storm.

Klint continued to roar with anger as he kept bashing his mace into Kirito's cross swords. "Now they will all fall! They can either join my new universe of gaming, or give it up forever! Either way I'm calling the shots! EITHER WAY, I'M GOING TO RULE THEM ALL!"

"YOU WON'T RULE ANYTHING!" Kirito switched back to the offensive and let his sword graze by Klint's exposed cheek, which sliced a pretty decent cut to let out another painful scream. Klint responded by bashing Kirito in the gut with a powerful blow, and sent him flying into a black obsidian pillar to collect his breath and count his bruises.

Kirito had lost both of his swords in the tumble backwards, and just as he looked up Klint was charging forward with a black and orange glowing mace. He was ready to slam Kirito right in the head, until a loud screeching noise came from the room towards the right, and just then the doors to the balcony slammed open and broke off their hinges with a great fell beast sitting on the floor.

It turned back to settle inside the smaller room, but just then a shining white figure slid off its back and withdrew her long sword _Andûril_. She noticed the black figure Klint charging forward, but after powering on her magnificent swordskill, she sent him flying towards the back of the room in a cloud of rubble and ash.

"Well, I wondered why he wasn't out fighting his own war." Asuna put away her long sword and rolled her eyes. "Now it's time for me to…"

"Asu…na?"

The brown haired Gondorian Commander looked alert and focused as that voice crossed her ears. She quickly turned her head to the other end of the confrontation to find a fallen black body lying on the ground, but it still looked healthy enough to stand.

She ran over and lowered herself to his side, but just then her eyes grew three sizes as she witnessed a face she never expected to see this early in her conquest.

"Kiri…to?" Asuna's hands trembled as they reached out to touch his shoulder. She figured this had to be some hallucination, or evil illusion dreamed up by Klint's magic, but just then the fallen Kirito reached out and grabbed hand.

"Asuna…Asuna!" Kirito leaned forward and wrapped her up in a great big hug, and as the tears began to roll down her cheeks, Asuna lost all control of her thoughts and mind.

"Kirito…I…I…" She had no words planned for their eventual reunion, but instead she continued to stutter his name, and froze with fear and certainty that this had to be a dream.

Kirito got the message, and looked her in the eyes with a bright smile. He then closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers, and began comforting her as best as possible.

"Hey, sorry I was gone…" He expected some anger, but was met with a confused bout of laughter that broke out of her mouth.

Asuna had no other words, and had no way of expressing her joy while Kirito continued to hold her hand tight. "I always…I always knew you'd save me though."

"You idiot…" She replied, quickly remembering those where her first words after he rescued her in ALfheim. "I'm the one who's supposed to say that, not you."

"Not this time, Asuna…" He raised his head backwards, and then went in to kiss her, but just then a chain hanging off her neck began to glow, and followed by summoning a brightly colored girl with black hair and a white gown.

"DADDY! DADDY YOU'RE BACK!" Yui sprung up into motion and wrapped her arms around his neck, causing him and Asuna both to laugh with wonder. They sat back and enjoyed the moment before Yui tried speaking once again.

"Daddy…" She sniffled through her words. "I missed you so much…we all missed you!"

"I know you did." Kirito replied. "And I missed you too, Yui. I'm really sorry for leaving you all like that."

"Yui shook her head. "No, don't say that! The important thing is you're back! You're back right where you belong…"

 _*BOOOOM!*_

Yui let out a loud cry as she was quickly met with a great ball of fire. Asuna leaned back with hands covering her face in pure astonishment, and Kirito trembled with fear as he just witnessed his virtual daughter burst into flames.

They both turned and noticed Klint standing near his throne. He looked defeated and disheveled, but his eyes were glowing with flames mimicking that of the Great Eye. His hair was messy, and his demeanor seemed that of a psychopath. He held his mace high in the air, and then lowered it as his right hand took the golden object sitting on his throne.

"You might want to teach that little daughter of your's to pay more attention…None of you are back…you're both still in Mordor answering to the subjugation of the Dark Lord."

Asuna bit her teeth together and trembled with her hand on _Lambent Light_ as she stood with fire and passion coursing through her veins. Kirito stepped forward and yelled out a response. "KLINT! YOU BASTARD!"

Klint laughed and then gave her a quick nod. "Oh an no short cuts, Asuna. No one but the Dark Lord can kill his most trusted servant, which means simply killing yourself and Kirito is out of the question..."

Asuna tensed her jaw in rage, and then stood back as Klint started summoning a large torrential cloud around his feet.

"AND I'M NOT KLINT IN MIDDLE-EARTH, YOU FOOL! I AM THE ONE AND ONLY LORD OF THE RINGS! I AM THE _DARK LORD SAURON!_ "

He then slipped the malevolent golden band over his right index finger and gave them all one final grin of evil.

"And I think it's about time to show you the true power of the _One Ring_."

Then, as Asuna and Kirito both stood side by side, the Dark Lord began taking his true shape. Sauron was quickly portrayed as a towering black knight, wielding his great black mace in this form just like his last, only now he looked to be heavily armored and standing nearly 15 feet tall. His wicked attire was shown as spiky plate armor of very high quality, with a very ornate evil filigree dotted about its surface, only it still looked quite functional. He even had a lofty spiked helm, fit as a sort of crown for the realm of Mordor.

Finally, his eyes continued to glow with fiery orange light, partially similar to the Great Eye of Mordor. He also had the glowing ring of gold around his right index finger, but with the extension of his black ragged cape and his crooked armor, this was the only thing pleasant about his figure.

The Dark Lord Sauron stood at full strength as he gazed upon his enemies. He have them no quarter in the fight to come, and readied himself for the battle of fates inside his throne room of the Barad-dûr.

Kirito went to charge ahead while remembering his swords were still lying on the floor, but as he went to recover those fallen blades, Asuna held up her hand and stopped his progression.

"Hold on." She insisted. "You don't want those swords…" The queen of Gondor then swiped open her inventory and revealed two newly packaged weapons for Kirito, one of shining black, and the other of a lofty emerald green.

Kirito widened his vision as he grabbed hold of the two handles, and then after equipping their holsters to his back, the _Elucidator_ and _Dark Repulser_ took the hands of their former Sword Art master.

Kirito clenched them both like they were a forgotten limb on his body, and then before he grew even more lost in the moment, Asuna Yuuki ignored the great _Andúril_ inside her inventory and grabbed the handle of _Lambent Light_ , swiftly pulling it from the sheath and prepping it for battle.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's just like an SAO boss." The brown haired beauty firmly reminded her partner of all the bosses they fought in Akihiko Kayaba's game, and then turned to give him a slightly rare smile. "I think we know how to handle those kind of bosses…"

Kirito took a moment to grasp everything that had recently happened. He was set to fight for his life and future all alone, but now his partner and romantic friend stood by as they both readied for the hardest fight of heir lives.

"I think you're right, Asuna. Let's see just how tough this One Ring really is…"

* * *

Now, we return to the fields of Gorgoroth, where the great host led by Chrysheight and the other ALO players is currently asserting itself at the lower slopes of Mount Doom. The great group of men, elves and dwarves was doing rather well for themselves, but just as a group of more orcs began marching up from the east, they seemed to find more allies coming from the Tower of Cirith Ungol.

However, one new ally was not greeted with warmth and kindness, even though the aggressor was clearly his friend.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! _KLEIN!_ " Lisbeth charged forward with her fists blazing and her _Lightning Hammer Mjölnir_ out ready to smack him in the head. The poor leader of rangers and Haradrim ran the other way shrieking for his life until Agil grabbed him under the arm and started rubbing his scalp with his fists.

"Ah man! Klein is alive? That's totally legit man!" Agil was very thrilled to see his long lost friend, and unlike Lisbeth he seemed to be less angry that the fallen ranger of the north was actually still alive after fighting the Balrog.

Sinon and the three who came with Klein stood with total shock, and Lisbeth started breathing heavily trying to collect herself. Meanwhile Chrysheight stopped fighting and raised a waving hand. "Awe no way! Good ta see you Klein! How was the Balrog fight? I see you didn't…"

Everyone started waving their hands in fear until Lisbeth took a swipe at the Blue Wizard's head with her golden hammer. He ducked and backed away with caution.

"YOU KNEW HE DIDN'T DIE?! AND YOU LET ME TELL EVERYONE THE STORY ANYWAY!? Lisbeth was in total rage mode after being seemingly lied to by her group director, and the Blue Wizard had no choice but to accept the anger at face value.

"Ahehehe, sorry I guess I never put two and two together…" He began rubbing the back of his head after taking the large wizard hat off. "A-Anyway…Klein, do you still have the two Rings of Power?"

"Huh? Yea I think they're somewhere…?" He began thumbing through his pockets to find the two rings of power, one his dwarf ring from the beginning and the other being Narya which was gifted to him by none other than Lisbeth. He tried to keep them on, but after making it halfway to Harad from Forodwaith Kayaba instructed him to stop wearing them the closer he drew to Mordor.

"Yep! They're right here! Lis you can have yours back if you want it!" He tossed it to a now flustered Lisbeth whose face was roughly the color of her pink hair. Leafa and Silica continued to laugh as she took the ring, and Sinon shook her head to avoid any more moments of rage.

Chrysheight appreciated the gesture of friendship between the two allies, but he actually took both rings instead. "Eh, I'll take both of them actually. And while I have you can I get the rings from you, Leafa, Silica, and Recon?"

The three once missing allies all shrugged and handed over their rings, none of whom were happier to part with their's more than Leafa. The Blue Wizard tallied them all up and put them away in a brown cloth bag.

"Okay, well Lisbeth and the others have been taking the rings of the Ringwraiths after they die, which should only leave us with Asuna's elven Ring, and the One. She managed to destroy Kirito's by smashing it with the hammer, but I think we'll…"

"OH I HAVE MORE NEWS!" Leafa bolted up in front of the group and gave them all a smile. "Kirito is alive and inside the game, just like his normal self! He's heading to the Dark Tower, and he should be there by now."

"Kirito's in Mordor?" Everyone looked shocked, but Chrysheight was the one who chose to vocalize his thoughts. "And he's heading towards Klint? Asuna just left for the tower not too long ago!"

"We'll that's just sweet!" Lisbeth said with a slightly flustered face and her arms crossed. "The Love Birds can tag team Klint together and finish this crap once and for all."

"True!" Chrysheight said with a smiling face. "But we'll need to help them do it. I don't think it matters, but just in case this game is kept alive and running after we leave it, these things need to be wiped from the servers."

"How can we do that?" Sinon asked. "We're inside the game."

"Yea, we'd probably need to do it from the outside first!" Silica agreed, and the others too looked a bit confused on the whole situation.

"Yes, but this game is set to have Mount Doom permanently destroy any item within the game, even those that aren't made in MEO. We can toss these rings in the volcano fires just like the One and watch them burn up in flames."

"Okay!" Lisbeth finally leveled herself back down to a normal attitude. "But how are we gonna get up there? That's a pretty steep hill climb."

"Yea, and I don't think anyone here has had fun on the mountains so far in this game." Agil started grinning as he referenced all the hills and mountains found in MEO.

All seemed lost for the command group until Leafa smiled and stepped up towards Chrysheight. "Actually, I won't need to climb! I can just fly there using my wings!"

"Oh yea!" Lisbeth remarked. "Leafa unlocked her wings from ALO! She can throw them in from the top!"

"Hmmm…" Chrysheight was a little hesitant of the gesture. "I dunno…in the Lord of the Rings lore, dark forces of Sauron's magic kept flying heroes from entering his skies. Great Eagles who followed the wizard actually revealed they couldn't aid the Fellowship at all inside Mordor proper until the Ring and the Nazgûl was destroyed. Therefore I'm worried your ALO wings would only be able to ascend to a certain height much like in ALfheim."

Everyone stopped and began thinking about that for a brief moment, until Leafa went ahead and powered on her emerald green wings with a grin on her face.

"Eh, I'll take my chances."

She wasted no time in taking the bag of rings from the hands of Chrysheight and jumping into the air to make her journey into the clouds and right towards the towering Mount Doom. Her friends waited idly by for any issue that might occur, with the exception of Sinon who actually kept her eyes on the ground instead of the air.

"Hmm…I'm not sure about this…" She held her bow with a tight grip and continued to scour the grounds for any enemies that might threaten her friend.

Leafa on the other hand continued to soar through the air as she began reaching her peak speed. The mountainous volcano was only about 1,400 meters high, which actually found its summit close to the peak of the Barad-dûr in height. She continued her climb into the air as the smoke and clouds began to hurt her lungs, and the ash throughout the fiery skies kept her vision very narrow in her view.

"I need to keep my eyes on the top…" She tried to locate the glowing mouth of fire and lava at the top of the volcano, and just as the top of the mountain came into view, a spit of pure ash signified her that this had to be the opening into the earth.

"YES!" Leafa ignored her self health and doubled her speed to deliver the rings for the flames, but as she grew closer and closer her light green wings began flickering away from existence.

She looked nervous as she began soaring higher and higher, but just as she felt the base of her wings actually leave her back muscles, she tossed the heavy sack of rings high through the giant, active stratovolcano, and as she fell below the danger level, her wings began to take shape once again.

She looked up to find a bright light of faint gold take the cloud of towering ash, which must have meant the rings were successfully destroyed, but as she grew closer to the army, a large crossbow bolt flew through the air and pierced her though the leg.

"LEAFA!" Everyone yelled as they all looked on with fear, and just as she saw a second bolt flying through the air, Sinon powered on her bow and shot out golden arrow equipped with a ropy tail.

The arrow caught Leafa's fluttering waist cloak, but the second bolt pierce right through her wings which caused her to lose control of her flight and tumble towards the ground in a crash of pure pain.

The allies watched as a tiny column of cinders and ash lit up above their heads, but before any of them began fearing the unknown, Sinon grabbed the other end of the golden rope.

"Follow me! We can find her body at the end of the rope!" She began running up the mountain and left her Fellowship to decide for themselves.

Luckily, however, they all dropped their current fight and followed the elven archer up the slopes of Mount Doom and attempted to locate their fallen friend, hoping that this would be the last time they watched an ally fall to the hands of crooked evil.

* * *

While the Alliance of ALfheim was trying to locate their fallen friend, the two heroes of our story continued their bitter clash with the Dark Lord inside the throne hall of Barad-dûr. Sauron was quite the force to be reckoned with, and he left little time for his enemies to plan a victory.

Asuna was losing her breath and strength, and Kirito was in a far worse place after making his walk all the way from Cirith Ungol. Both spent a great amount of time fighting and travelling, and neither were fit to fight this great titan in his own evil hall.

Still, the two allies kept their blades powered on, and allowed their sword skills to guide their victory and end this battle as soon as possible. Kirito delivered a stab with the black sword _Elucidator_ , and he quickly raised the _Dark Repulser_ to deflect Sauron's mace.

However, what he never expected was for Sauron to ignore Kirito and send the mace crashing into the rib cage of Asuna, who flew in to perform a flurry of stabs with _Lambent Light_. She crashed into the nearby pillar supporting the ceiling, and then watched as Sauron finally gave Kirito some attention by sending him flying into a pillar a crossed the hall.

Both heroes fell to their knees, but used their swords to prop their bodies back into the fight. Kirito considered only using one blade to ease his muscles, but remembered his speed and swarm skills were his best advantage. Asuna on the other hand had no real option, because her only other weapon of help was the much heavier great sword _Andúril_.

However, the queen of Gondor rose to her feet and held _Lambent Light_ with brave resilience as she stood her ground against the enemy.

"KLINT! Why has Kirito not been logged out of MEO?! He's clearly been killed like the other Ringwraiths, so the rules of the game should have forced him out."

Kirito raised his head as well. "And where are the other players who were locked in as wraiths? Are they actually logged out, or are they still trapped like I am?"

Sauron stopped the assault and tried to collect his humor behind the mask. He twirled his mace with arrogance and gave them an explanation. "Great observation. I assume the lady here smashed up your Ring of Power, Kazuto? She destroyed it before destroying you in Minas Tirith would be my guess."

Asuna stopped walking forward and began recollecting her thoughts from that fight. She remembered not using _Andúril_ to kill Kirito, but instead used it to severe the ring from his hands. She then used Lisbeth's legend hammer to smash his ring into oblivion, which must have broken its hold on Kirito and left him in an odd state of limbo.

Sauron then began to laugh with the wicked voice of Klint behind his mask. "But, unfortunately we're both still built like ring bearers. It will take a legendary weapon from either game to slay us, and lucky for me my _Mace of Sauron_ will do just that…that is if I _wish_ to kill Kirito's virtual form."

He started looking at Asuna, and noticed her hands were trembling even with the light weight rapier held in her frail hands. "I know you hold the Sword of Elendil. Use it to kill me here and now, and maybe you'll find out what happens when a God dies…"

Asuna knew he was mocking her. Klint could see the Flame of the West was too heavy for her to use right now, and if she kept up her current pace she would never find the strength to use it. Meanwhile Kirito had no legendary weapon to use at all, and with his current faction labeled as Nazgûl it would be hard for him to properly use _Andúril_ at full strength.

Then, the Dark Lord paused his assault and snapped his fingers, which summoned a brightly colored being out of thin air.

Kirito went to slice it into nothing, but then held his hand still as soon as he looked in her eyes.

"Kirito...Kirito what are you doing?"

"Sa...Sachi?"

Standing before his very eyes was the first person from Sword Art Online Kirito ever cared for. Sachi from the _Moonlit Black Cats_ was standing right in front of him with her head tilted and a saddened look on her face.

"NO! KIRITO HE'S A NECROMANCER!" Asuna charged forward to snap him out of it, but just then a second snap summoned a purple cloud in front of her.

"Hey Asuna! Long time, no see!"

Asuna nearly dropped her sword as the avatar of Yuuki stood right in front of her eyes, still clothed in purple and red imp cloths of ALO. She had no idea how to react, and as the former friend delivered a warm smile, her heart became confused.

"Kirito...they're not real." Asuna began holding back a tear as she raised her sword over her head, ready to kill the real or imaginary being with on fell swoop. "We can't let him get to our heads, Kirito...they're not here."

The Black Swordsman was looking on, but he couldn't hear Asuna with all the sadness radiating from Sachi's face.

"What happened to us, Kirito? What happened to us in the dungeon...did you leave us?"

Kirito choked up on the handle of his sword with pure confusion and rage. He went to buckle his knees and give in to the nightmare, but Asuna charged forward, just after dispelling her own purple cloud of a dream into nothing, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kirito...she's not real."

"...AGHHH!" Kirito followed suit after receiving the encouraging words from Asuna, and wiped away Sachi like the false memory she was. The real Sachi would have never accused him of leaving him, and Klint needed all the help he could get to waiver his heroes into nothing.

Then, the two friends both followed up by looking to the towering menace and let him finish. "Ironic, isn't it. I idolize Tolkien just like you idolized Kayaba, and Miss Asuna, I can't take all the credit for mind control without looking to your former fiancé, Sugō. They all accomplished great things…but I will accomplish even greater achievements by taking the virtual world for my own. The full world of your Seed will bend to the will of the One Ring."

Asuna had no idea what to do, but then noticed Kirito charge forward with full power and grace as he seemed to have enough.

"AGH! I'M THROUGH WITH YOU, KLINT! ALL'S YOU'VE DONE IS TAKE THE WORK OF GREATER WRITERS AND CREATORS AND CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN!"

"RIGHT!"

Klint replied as he smashed the mace deep within Kirito's chest. He waited fort the poor boy to crash into the ground, and watched Asuna toss her sword and slide over to his aid.

She curled up beside his body without a weapon, but Sauron was too busy giving them more of a threat to care. "AND I'L MAKE IT ALL BETTER WITH THE TOUCH OF MY GLORY! I'LL BE THE GREATEST NAME IN THE HISTORY OF GAMING!"

"Ngh…ngh… _AGGHHHH!_ " Asuna stepped up from her boyfriend's conscious but beaten body. Kirito raised a hand to protest her continuation, but the girl charged forward anyway wielding his black sword _Elucidator_ in her hands.

"ASUNA!" Kirito stood up on one knee and grabbed the _Dark Repulser_. He tried moving forward but heard a piercing noise take the air, and then watched as Sauron grabbed his lovely friend by the throat and tossed her back towards his body.

Kirito fell back, having no choice but to break Asuna's fall by catching her mid-slide as she scuffed a crossed the floor. He rolled her over and noticed she was still alive, but her lower abdomine was now black and dying.

"I…I messed up, Kirito." Asuna tried speaking with full strength, but she held her hands tightly around her now familiar wound as Klint stabbed her in the same spot once again.

Kirito had no idea what to expect, until he noticed the blade that was used to hurt her was still lodged within her skin. It smoked with a little black cloud before quickly vaporizing into nothing, and then they were both greeted by the sound of Klint dropping the lone handle.

"Ahah, that's pretty funny." He mused with sarcasm. "I take it you don't have _mithril_ to save you this time?"

Kirito had no idea what he was talking about at first, but then had a small evil memory take his mind, and it just so happened to be the same moment Kirito as the Witch-king stabbed Asuna with a Morgul Blade.

He knew fully well what Morgul Baldes did, and even without a Ring of Power, Asuna was set to transform into a mindless servant of Sauron if she wasn't healed in time. He tried to find medicine in his inventory he didn't have, until Asuna grabbed his hand.

"Kirito…I'm so sorry…I used my mithril chainmail…to fix your sword."

Kirito's hands began trembling as he now realized why his _Dark Repulser_ felt lighter in his off hand. His eyes started watering up, and just then Klint Rojer howled with laughter.

"OH STOP, HIS _BROKEN_ SWORD!? THE ONE I HAD OBERON GIVE YOU AT THE BLACK GATE!? YOU HAD IT FIXED USING YOUR MITHRIL ARMOR! THIS IS THE _GREATEST_ THING I COULD HAVE ASKED FOR!" The Dark Lord nearly dropped his mace in amusement as he tried collecting himself, but as he did he lowered his head and gave them another reply.

"Well Kirito, now because of your useless sword, Asuna will become my new servant…Let's hope she proves to be more useful than her boyfriend."

"Klint…" Kirito held Asuna's hand as they both began tearing up, and just then the fire took his heart, and he dropped her hand neatly onto her stomach, the boy picked up the two swords from SAO, and barreled forward for another confrontation.

 _"KLINT!_ YOU'LL _DIE_ FOR THAT! _"_ Kirito started by tossing the _Elucidator_ right for the chest of Sauron, and to his surprise the blade actually stuck, leaving the Dark Lord to howl in pain and agony.

Either way he grabbed the sword form his chest and tossed it to the ground, but just as he went to attack, he saw Kirito coming in and grabbing his right arm with his left hand.

 _"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_ Kirito powered on his glowing _Dark Repulser_ , the same sword gifted to him by Klint Rojer, and used it to slice the fingers from Klint's right hand, severing his mace, his lower glove, and the One Ring clean from his arm.

The lone _Dark Repulser_ would not have been enough, but because its original blade was replaced with that of a powerful metal like mithril, it was just enough to sever the fingers of the Dark Lord clean from his hand.

"Aygh!" Sauron backed away and held his broken hand in pure agony. He cried out for a brief moment, and then felt his chest bubble and glow with energy. Kirito held a hand above his face and watched as a small explosion formed in the Dark Lord's chest, and after its destruction it left the original human form of Klint sitting all alone with his mace.

He looked up, frail and beaten, but as he made eye contact with Kirito, the Black Swordsman of SAO grabbed the One Ring and slipped it onto his own finger.

"Ya know, I had a feeling I know what happens when you die, Klint. I noticed you love authenticity so much, you even gave yourself the same handicaps as regular players…including the fact that when _you_ die, your avatar will be permanently logged out of MEO."

"What? What kind of nonsense is that!?" Klint Rojer cowered in fear as he tried standing with the mace in his hands, but stayed weak and pathetic as Kirito carried on.

"You talk about me, Asuna, and all my friends like we're the last hope for the world of virtual gaming, but you forgot one important piece of the puzzle. Even if you did defeat us all, or even worse, even if you _enslaved_ us to do your fighting, the entire gaming community, they'd take you down in one fell swoop. Gamers don't like losing playing time just to deal with bully players like you, and they especially won't let some _nerd_ steal their favorite games right out from under them."

"How dare you!" He stood up with rage after hearing that sharp n-word take his ears. "I am GOING to recreate the world of Tolkien in my own image! I will rule the world of Virtual Reality!"

"No Klint…you won't."

"SILENCE!" Klint used all the anger and malice he had channeled away, and struck the ground of his throne room with a hardy blow. It sent a cracking shock wave through the ground and air and caused Kirito to fly backwards and recollect his footing.

"I'm not letting some punk and his whiny little girlfriend ruin my world! I WON'T LET ANY OF YOU TAKE MIDDLE-EARTH AWAY FROM ME!"

Kirito stood calm but focused as he let all the power of the ring channel through his veins. He could feel his strength parameter and his magic manna bar increase tenfold, and he also felt his avatar's defense increase as well. However, what he and Klint didn't expect was for him to unlock the secrets of the Ring on his own and trigger it as his own item.

Then, Kirito raised his hand to the right, and drew a glowing sword right from thin air. The light filled the entire room with a blanket of gold, and just as it faded into shadow, the proud blade _Excalibur_ took the hands of Kazuto Kiriguya.

"NO! NO NO NO!" Klint sent more shock waves towards the hero, knowing fully well that weapon would end the life of his avatar. He feared this was the end, but then noticed the ally of Kirito stood as well, and she too had a secret weapon up her sleeve.

"Hey…you mind if I go in with you?" Asuna got the attention of Kirito by holding up the powerful Sword of Elendil, _Andúril_ —the Flame of the West.

"Where did you...?" Kirito blinked for a few moments trying to collect how Asuna got her hands of the _coolest sword_ he had ever seen. He then ignored that thought and looked her right in the eye.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

The two turned forward, and let the once menacing Dark Lord of Mordor cower before their eyes, and just then both heroes lit their blades with the power of a swordskill, and charged forward in a bout of glory to take the fight to its end.

" _NO!_ I WILL NOT FALL TO YOU TWO LIKE THIS! NOT WITH MY _SWORD_! NOT WITH _MY RING!_ "

Klint pointed out the irony of the two victors defeating him with weapons he specifically created for the game, but the thought was not enough to pause or end the moment as Kirito and Asuna charged forward in a victorious war cry, streaming all their power into the blades _Andúril_ and _Excalibur_ to end this fight here and now.

Then, as Klint tried one last attempt to slam them into the wall, it was far too late. Kirito and Asuna drew their blades right to his chest, and with the strength of love and conviction, they pierced the game master through the heart, and ended his career then and there.

Then, the Dark Lord Sauron, and President of _Mystic Gaming_ Klint Rojer, disappeared into a cloud of ash and pixels, leaving his proud creation of Middle-Earth in the hands of his enemy.

* * *

 **Wow...that originally came out to like 17 pages on Microsoft word. The usual range I go is 8-12 pages!**

 **This however was trimmed down to about 14 pages over on MS Word. I cut some off and stuck it on tomorrow's chapter, and some scenes I just simply condensed. I didn't try to reduce the quality of any scene by making them shorter, and I feel that in the end it all came out.**

 **And there it is! The classic Sword Art Online Boss fight! Kirito got the Ring, Asuna is still at risk of becoming a Ringwraith, but I'm sure they'll figure out what to do...?**

 **Next chapter tomorrow...the fate of Middle-Earth shall be decid** ed.


	47. 47: The Fate of Middle-Earth

**Author's Note: Well my good friends we have finally made it to the rough conclusion of our story! Watch as Kirito and Asuna make their final attempt to finish this game off once and for all...**

 **And now, without further ado, to quote Trevor Noah...Here it is, your _Moment of Zen._**

 **Finally, I DO NOT OWN _SWORD ART ONLINE_ OR THE _LORD OF THE RINGS!_**

* * *

Chapter Forty Seven

The Fate of Middle-Earth

 _"Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil."_

—Gandalf the White, _the Lord of the Rings_

* * *

Klint Rojer disappeared into a cloud of nothing, and was quickly and presumably signed out of Midde-Earth Online just after his untimely death at the hands of Asuna and Kirito. He created the perfect virtual model for any supporter of J.R.R. Tolkein, but in the end, even the power of his very own Ring was too much to handle.

Kirito was beginning to feel that heavy power, as he still wore the Ring even after the defeat of Sauron. He grabbed Asuna under the arm and watched as she dropped her heavy sword _Andúril_ in the loss of her energy.

"H-Hey…" She reminded him with a sigh. "Make sure you have _Excalibur_ with you once we log out. We don't want to lose it in here forever…"

"Yea, I'm already on it." Kirito made room for _Excalibur_ on his back, even though without Lisbeth fully re-forging it to disconnect it from the Ring, the sword would safely return to ALO no matter what. However, unless they had their weapons directly equipped, or if the weapons belonged to ALO naturally, no weapon that Lisbeth forged from the rings would make it out of MEO.

Kirito began walking himself and Asuna to the waiting fell beast near the balcony, but she topped him and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"And make sure you take the _Ring_ off when we get to Mount Doom…" Asuna of all people knew what that Ring would do, and even in the hands of her perfect Kirito, the thought still left her uneasy.

"O-Oh, y-yea right!" Kirito had no idea what her concern was, because Kirito was fully confident he would be the one to take it off and destroy it once they got to Mount Doom. He had no idea what they would face once they left the Tower however, and decided to keep its buffs equipped until the time was right.

The two finally made it to the Fell Beast, and as Kirito positioned Asuna on the back end, he climbed on and prepared his very familiar mount for a ride to Mount Doom.

"Hmm, why do I get the feeling I know how to ride this creepy thing...?" He began scratching his head until Asuna wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and rested her head on his upper back.

"Kirito…I really missed using you as my pillow." She cooed with delight while trying to rest for a moment, which left Kirito both awkwardly embarrassed and slightly happy at the same time.

He nodded and then steered his flying monster through the great window and out towards the slopes of Mount Doom.

* * *

As Kirito and Asuna quickly approached the fiery peaks of Oroduin, they looked towards the western side of Mordor, slightly beyond the volcano, and saw two great armies continue to clash on the battlefield.

Asuna tightened her grip on Kirito's waist, and then raised her head. "You think the others will be alright? I mean, this should all be over in a minute. I hope they can make it 'til then…"

Kirito nodded slightly, but made no effort to keep his thoughts wrapped up on the others. His major concerns lied with getting them to Mount Doom successfully, and his recent victory against Klint.

He felt so very proud for finally defeating that arrogant game maker in his very own world, and for some reason, every time Kirito stopped to remember the final moment, his heart filled with fire and pride. He began feeling a faint warm itch coming from his right index finger, but ignored it as he started reminiscing about his victorious claim.

"I'm sure they're fine…man that was a pretty cool fight, huh Asuna? I mean, Klint barely even stood a chance in the end."

"Hah, I dunno, he had us both down there for a moment…and if we don't get out of this game soon I might turn into one of those nasty Ringwraiths." Asuna had not forgotten about her third and hopefully final Morgul Blade scar, and as they came to the Mountain, her mind fell at ease with the thought of leaving. "Oh well, I'll be fine once we get out of here."

"Yea…once we leave." Kirito repeated her thoughts, but he did not share them to their entirety. He quite liked this world of Middle-Earth. He began feeling even more powerful than ever before in the virtual world, and the weapons and factions were out of this world.

Asuna actually noticed he never responded to her remark on turning into a Nazgûl, and as a result leaned over his shoulder. "H-Hey…you alright?"

"Um what? Y-Yea, yea I'm fine." He replied with a few pauses. "Just trying to find a nice place to land!"

He then found a nice location just under the great fiery mouth into the side of the volcano. Sammath Naur, or the Chamber of Fire, was located in the Cracks of Doom. Sauron forged the One Ring in the mid-Second Age there, and this was the only location in which the One Ring could be destroyed.

Kirito landed the fell beast, and quickly helped escort Asuna off its back. They both stumbled trying to grab footing on the steep slopes of Mount Doom, but before they fell down, Asuna pointed at the man-made opening into the side of the hill.

"THERE! We have to take it though that room, I think!" She led them, and just as the fires quelled their roar the two heroes stepped up the stairs and into the fiery chasm.

The volcanic fissure erupted with a wave of heat the moment our two Ring-Bearers stepped into its lair. The fires and ash rose through the ceiling, and the molten river of hell rolled down through the bottom to send even a mild shiver of fear down the bravest man's spine.

Asuna removed herself from the hold of Kirito and pulled out her white ring _Nenya_. She tossed it into the fires below and gave off a sigh of relief. "Wow, that felt so amazing! The rings are cool and all, but they're way too much for a single player."

Kirito didn't nod, but he did step forward just to pass by and get it over with. Asuna gave him a calm smile, and looked back towards the door to see if anyone was planning oncoming up from behind.

Kirito walked out through the fiery air, and out the length of the great bridge that extended over the river of molten lava, and as he finally made it to the end he held out his hand that included the One Ring.

Asuna turned back and tilted her head in confusion. "Kirito…" She said wearily. "It's time, you can go ahead and throw it in the fire."

Kirito paused, ignoring his Asuna and continuing to look down at his ringed hand. The golden object was beginning to fuse with his mind, and with it came blackened thoughts of power and dominion.

"Kirito. If you destroy it, it might break the game and log you out. Y-you want to get out, don'y you?"

"I don't know…" Kirito replied in a blank monotone, nearly silenced from the roaring fires down below. He held up his right hand and clenched it into a fist, signifying a total domination flourishing through his mind. "I don't see why we need to destroy this world. If we can bend it to our will, we can us it to help the players in ALO, and even create a new world for ourselves."

"K-Kirito…throw it into the fire. I know what it's doing to you." Asuna had to carry that golden weight all the way from Rivendell, so she knew exactly what the tiny little trinket was doing to his mind.

The only problem was, since his faction was that of a Morgul Man, it affected his brain twice as fast as the ordinary player.

"I'm not destroying it…I'm taking it over to ALfheim."

"No, you're not." Asuna tried to put her foot down, but the angry Kirito turned with his full fist raised towards the ceiling.

"But I can do it! Klint is no longer an issue! If I use this Ring in ALO, I will be able to…" Kirito continued to fill the air with delusions of grandeur, but as he began to march forward, Asuna grabbed him by the waist, and brought him in closer than ever before, kissing him passionately on the lips.

Kirito was frozen in time, even in this room of hell fire. He had no idea how to react, and his brain actually slipped into the warming sensation of the kiss as Asuna brought him in closer and closer.

Asuna then grabbed his hand as she continued to kiss him, and slipped the Ring off his finger. She then tossed it down the chasm, and carried on enjoying the romantic moment with the man she loved.

A vortex of fire and light shot up around their bodies, but they were too lost in their final embrace to ever notice the deathly storm of blazing winds, followed with the cataclysmic earthquake that broke the floor below their feet and sent them crashing down into the abyss.

They would have screamed in fear, but their passionate embrace was stealing every thought. In a quick instant they nearly hit the lava, but just then a blinding flash of light came up from their chests and captured the moment from the rest of the scene.

Here, they finally fell into nothing, and enjoyed their passing moment as the land of Middle-Earth faded into the void.

* * *

Asuna awoke with a beating heart as she sat up form her hospital bed in down town Tokyo. Her skin was on fire, and sweat rolled down her forehead as she frantically pulled the AmuSphere gaming device off her head and threw it to the ground.

"ASUNA!" She heard the familiar shrill voice of Lisbeth calling from the side of the bed, and just then she regained her vision and looked toward the brown haired guest.

"L-Lis…what's going on…?"

Lisbeth laughed like a maniac and brought her in for a tight hug. "ASUNA! YOU DID IT! You destroyed the Ring, and saved Kirito!"

"Kirito…?" Asuna began thinking, and then let her eyes open wide as she shot out form Lisbeth's control. "KIRITO! Where is he!?"

Lisbeth sat up with a smile and gave her a grin. "As soon as you broke the game, we all logged out. The server machines for MEO flashed up like crazy, and the authorities found the building Klint was keeping everyone at…"

She then rolled her eyes. "Turns out we were right. None of this was okayed by _Mystic Gaming_. Klint took all their resources, and nearly bankrupted them while we were gone. Now the company is folding…"

Asuna nodded, but tried to stand as she grabbed a hold of her stand alone IV tower. "I need to see him…where is he!?"

"Whoah!" Lisbeth ran over and grabbed Asuna by the arms. She then held her stand. "Relax. The cops found Kirito, and Seijirō had him taxied over here."

"Seijirō…everyone! How is everyone else!?"

"They're fine Asuna…they're all fine."

Asuna turned with Lisbeth to find a familiar black haired boy standing in the door way breathing like a maniac. He seemed to rush over hear at light speed, and tried to stand tall.

"I guess you and I blacked out after we logged out…I woke up a little while ago and came over as fast as I could…"

Asuna let go of Lisbeth and began stomping on two legs slowly towards Kirito. He saw anger in her eyes, and nearly decided it was a good time to leave the situation, but just then she grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and brought him in closer.

"Next time I ask you to destroy a Ring…destroy it before I ask."

"I…yes ma'am!" Kirito froze from fear as Lisbeth laughed in the background, and right after he pledged his apology, Asuna leaned up and gave him a real life kiss on the lips.

Lisbeth rolled her eyes and smiled as she walked passed them and waved a hand. "Alright, cut it out by noon. We're all meeting at your cabin in ALfheim to celebrate the win in one hour."

Asuna laughed though the kiss, and Kirito silently shut the door behind Lisbeth's escape before firmly placing his arms back around Asuna's waist. Then, they waited out the morning and rejoined their friends in the afternoon.

* * *

 _~Meanwhile, back at the log cabin on Floor 22 of ALfheim's Aincrad_

"THREE CHEERS FOR KIRITO AND ASUNA!"

Klein raised a glass of in-game ale as the entire party roared with excitement, and just then the whole back yard erupted with celebration.

In addition, the timid Spriggan and Undine who hosted the large group stood at the center with awkward smiles glued to both of their faces. The tiny pixie Yui fluttered around them in joy, and the rest of their guests all cheered in their victory.

"No kidding!" Chrysheight brought things back down for a regular conversation. "I was starting to worry we'd never end up back in ALO. Things were starting to get a little too real for me!"

"True that!" Lisbeth said as she stood by Asuna drinking a big glass of punch. "I'm not switching my Avatar over to anymore game as long as I live. Who woulda thought the world of Fairies would be less chaotic that that MEO!"

"Awe, I don't know if it was all that bad!" Silica argued from a chair at the table to their right as her old friend Pina ate some food out of her hand. "I liked all the scenery, and the NPCs were really friendly!"

"Yea, I agree the game had some nice moments. "Sinon said as she quietly ate a slice of game cake created by Asuna. "My skills even transferred back over here, so I earned all that XP for roaming around in MEO."

"Yea, and thanks to Recon I found my sword before it was lost!" Leafa tapped the handle of her golden fairy sword, and to her right Recon sighed as he slouched over the table.

"Yea…I probably could have told you about that during the actual combat…"

Everyrone laughed, and Klein barreled forward and quickly put an arm around Kirito. "Oh man, you are not gonna believe the hell I went through trying to save your ass! I had to fight a giant demon, and then march down the whole map just to help the others!"

"Calm down man!" Agil knew Klein was still smiling and happy, but he figured the in-game intoxication was getting a little out of control. "I've been around my own bar enough to know when someone's had enough."

"Yea…" Lisbeth bit part of her tongue. "Might as well kick him out now…"

"Awe, you guys can all cheer up!" Asuna said with a bright expression. "After all this is a celebration! Let's stay happy!"

"No kidding!" Kirito agreed as he waved to several faces on the other side of the yard, including Eugene, Mortimer, Sakuya, and Alicia. "I mean, I can't be happy about putting you guys through all this, but now we're all back!"

Asuna nodded and tightly grabbed his hand. "Yes, and we're going to have to work on that attitude of yours if you ever plan on taking our forgiveness seriously."

"Agh…" Kirito sighed and lowered his head. "It's just kinda hard…ya know I trap myself in a game, then you all nearly get stuck in their too trying to help me out."

"Nearly?" Lisbeth replied. "I considered it a full on prison for how long were were stuck in there!"

Asuna gave her a light smack on the arm before turning back towards Kirito and delivering her usual smile. "Just lighten up Kirito, and try to have some fun!"

"Say?" Klein asked while he managed to find an extra piece of cake. "What happened to the game anyway? Did the servers all wipe clean after you two destroyed the Ring?"

"Yea, I think they did." Kirito admitted. ""But I can't say Klint was all in the wrong. I mean, he did make a pretty beautiful game."

Everyone stopped to think, and nearly yelled at him right on the spot. However, as the memories passed through their minds, scenes filled with fire and dread were not dotting their visions. No evil thoughts of Black Ringwraiths and Golden Rings stole their minds, but instead they began thinking of the amazing views, warm environments, impressive immersion, and friendly NPCs that each of them used throughout the fight.

Even more so, the bonds that were forged tighter within their friendship we stronger now more than ever.

Chrysheight was actually the first to sit back and reminisced on the elaborate vistas and views he saved in his mind from Middle-Earth. "It's a shame it all had to fall at the stroke of one man's greed...now I guess he and the other helpers will all share some time in jail. Still, it's a bummer realizing that World of Middle-Earth might fade forever."

"Eh, well it is a pretty popular series…" Kirito admitted as he gave Asuna a wink. "Heck, if I ever became a professional game creator, I'd even consider remaking it all from scratch, just to let the real fans of Tolkien enjoy it too."

"Yea…yea okay!" Lisbeth yelled out as she walked through the middle of the group. "Let's throw it all behind us and carry on playing our regular video games! Kirito's back to normal, and we're all safe and sound."

"YAY!" Yui cheered form Kirito's shoulder. "Daddy's back to normal!"

Everyone laughed at that remark, and raised their glasses high in the air to respond. Meanwhile Asuna looped her arm under his, and brought him in closer than before.

"That's right…and this time he's not going anywhere."

Kirito nodded, and gave her a quick peck on the lips before rejoining his guests for the afternoon celebration. From there, our favorite players would learn to forget their hardship and strife of Middle-Earth, and continue enjoying their lives in the Virtual Reality.

 _The End_

* * *

 **Ah, what a warm ending...fit for a hobbit.**

 **...I'm sorry I can't leave it that simple...THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH FOR FOLLOWING ALONG! Wow, this was my first ever SAO fan fiction story, and going in I was so absolutely terrified that I didn't know the characters well enough to write a story. Not to mention the fandom of LOTR is very... _passionate_...and I wanted to make sure I had everything right for that half of the story.**

 **Bottom line, I had so much fun writing this story. It was literally the _greatest_ experience I've ever had writing a fan fiction story. You guys do not know how many hours, how many smiles, and how many tears I used up listening to countless LOTR songs from the films, not to mention watching scenes from the films, music from the SAO anime, and scenes from the Anime as well. I'd like to thank both the SAO Wiki and the LOTR wiki for being great databases, and also the website _Tolkien Gateway_ and the actual 4 novels sitting on my desk here for helping me keep things authentic to the books as well (and the good men J.R.R. Tolkien and Reki Kawahara themselves for making such beautiful stories and characters.)**

 **No joke, I listened to a lot of the beautiful music produced by Howard Shore for the films, but one piece I found better than everything else was the finale song played at the end of the Fellowship (look on Youtube as "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring CR - 07. The Road goes ever on...part 1") This song found in both videos is probably the most beautiful film score I have ever had the pleasure of listening to, and the fade out in the actual video from the film that comes in when the movie credits begin is...tear jerking to say the least. Also, I obviously found myself playing "Swordland" from SAO many times for moments of "epicness and glory."**

 **Okay, I could go on forever. I've once again never had so much fun with the writing process of a story more than now, and I really hope you enjoyed it too! I noticed not very many people came to stop by, and there weren't very many commenters. That being said if you enjoyed the story, give it a shout out to any one else you think would like it too! I really want to see this story be shared by all! It might not be that good...but I sadly might admit its the best story I've had the pleasure of writing.**

 **GUYS I LOVE YOU _ALL_ FOR GIVING THIS STORY A READ! Thank you all _SO MUCH_ for stopping by, and hopefully I'll see you around if I ever write more SAO stories somewhere down the road!**


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